The Virginia Woolf Society of Turkey will host a talk by Maggie Humm titled “The Bloomsbury Photographs” from noon-2 p.m. EST and from 5-7 p.m. BST on Wednesday, June 11.
As the final talk of the society’s Woolf season, Humm will discuss her latest book, The Bloomsbury Photographs (Yale UP, 2024). She will explore the relationships, friendships and stories of the Bloomsbury group, offering a unique visual and historical perspective.
About Humm
Maggie Humm
Humm is an Emeritus Professor University of East London and Vice-Chair of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain. She has written and edited numerous books about Woolf and Bloomsbury, including a novel, Talland House, based on Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.
Doorway leading from Virginia Woolf’s bedroom to the back garden at Monk’s House. Woolf’s bedroom was part of a two-story extension the Woolfs added in 1930 and could only be accessed from the outside.
Hannah Minton, who describes herself as “a long-time admirer of the VW Blog [Blogging Woolf]” who loves “all the work that your group does to promote Woolf’s image” wrote us to share a photo of Virginia Woolf that she has colorized.
The photo, which comes from the Houghton Library at Harvard University, depicts Woolf at Monk’s House, circa 1933-1935, according to library records. It is one of many black and white images that Minton has colorized as part of her fledgling colorization business.
Minton describes the photo as being taken in Woolf’s “room at Monk’s House,” which I took her to mean it was taken in Woolf’s bedroom, a room that was part of a two-story extension the Woolfs added in 1930 and could only be accessed from the outside.
Virginia Woolf’s bedroom at Monk’s House, showing the fireplace with tiles decorated by her sister, Vanessa Bell.
Investigating location
However, when I took a close look, I did not recognize the fireplace tiles as being those in Woolf’s bedroom, as those tiles feature a lighthouse. (See photo at right.)
So I went to a booklet I picked up at Monk’s House in 2019. Published by the National Trust and titled Virginia Woolf at Monk’s House, it includes the black and white version of the photo Minton colorized and explains that it was taken “in one of the upstairs rooms at Monk’s House, date unknown” (30).
Below, thanks to Minton, we share both the original black and white version, as well as her subtly colorized version. See what you think.
Virginia Woolf seated reading a book at Monk’s House (Rodmell, England) : portrait print, circa 1933-1935., 1933-1935.. Virginia Woolf Monk’s House photographs, MS Thr 564, (60) RESTRICTED, Box: 2. Houghton Library.
I just stumbled across a saved email from two years ago that included a link to a 16-minute YouTube video that provides a photographic timeline of Virginia Woolf’s many looks, from youth to adult, from formal to playful.
The music accompanying the timeline, which I am belatedly sharing, is by Philip Glass, who also composed the music for the 2002 film “The Hours.”
The exhibit, March 1 – May 20, also features three other celebrated figures in art photography: Lewis Carroll, Oscar Rejlander and Clementina Hawarden. These four artists would come to embody the very best in photography of the Victorian era, according to the NPG.
Julia Jackson, as photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron
In the albums are snapshots taken by Woolf and her friends and family, including portraits and scenic landscapes of their homes and travels. Virginia and Vanessa were avid photographers, using a portable Kodak to shoot their pictures. They also developed their photos, printed them and mounted them in albums.
Details from the catalog item description
The majority of the photographs in the album are snapshots possibly taken by Virginia Woolf or by her friends and family. The rest of the photographs include portraits or scenic landscapes of their homes or from their travels. Subjects include Virginia Woolf, Leonard Woolf, Julian Bell, Quentin Bell, Vanessa Bell, George Duckworth, Stella Duckworth, T. S (Thomas Stearns) Eliot, Angelica Garnett, Duncan Grant, John Lehmann, Noel Olivier, William Plomer, V. (Victoria) Sackville-West, Adrian Stephen, Julia Duckworth Stephen and Sir Leslie Stephen.Some locations of the photographs were identified.
Some were taken at the home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf, Monk’sHouse (Rodmell, England) and at their publishing business, Hogarth Press. Other family homes included is the childhood home of Virginia Woolf, Talland House in St. Ives (Cornwall, England) as well as the home of her sister, Vanessa Bell, Charleston Farmhouse (West Firle, England). Other locations included Sissinghurst Garden (England) as well as other locations. Virginia and Leonard Woolf also took photographs during their vacation in England, France and Germany. Most of these images are of landscapes or buildings.
