Overview

A fascinating biography on Helen Coombe that addresses her art, personal life, and struggles with mental illness. Helen Coombe was a woman admired not only for her artistic skill, but also for her intellect, personality, and wit. The first biography of Coombe, The Artist Helen Coombe reveals her family background and education, her place in the arts and crafts movement, and her outstanding artistic output. Coombe was married to Roger Fry, an artist who was to achieve most fame as an art critic, historian, and protagonist of the Bloomsbury Group. Soon after their marriage in 1896, she displayed symptoms of schizophrenia. After the first episode, she temporarily resumed her career and had two children with Fry, but for the last thirty years of her life, she was committed to an institution. This thoroughly researched investigation makes full use of archival material, including correspondence, diaries, and medical records, and illuminates late Victorian and Edwardian society and culture. It sheds new light on Fry and is a must for anyone interested in the Bloomsbury Group, art history, and the handling of mental illness in the late nineteenth century.

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9781913645533

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Reviews

"""In this patient, long-in-the-making biography, Martin Ferguson Smith aims to give Coombe back her identity, not only as an artist of considerable achievement, but also as a woman with a distinct emotional and social trajectory. . .""-- ""The Times Literary Supplement"" ""Little of [Coombe's] work survives, but illustrations here give flashes of her brilliance.""-- ""Royal Academy Magazine"" ""How thrilled students of art and literature, as well as aficionados of all matters Bloomsbury, should be. . . Brilliantly illuminating and deeply moving, The Artist Helen Coombe is a biographical treasure.""-- ""English Studies"""

"""a compelling and meticulously researched biography""-- ""Virginia Woolf Bulletin"" ""Martin Ferguson Smith's fine book poignantly evokes Helen Coombe's tragic life while also richly celebrating her creative talent.""-- ""The British Art Journal"" ""In this patient, long-in-the-making biography, Martin Ferguson Smith aims to give Coombe back her identity, not only as an artist of considerable achievement, but also as a woman with a distinct emotional and social trajectory. . .""-- ""The Times Literary Supplement"" ""Little of [Coombe's] work survives, but illustrations here give flashes of her brilliance.""-- ""Royal Academy Magazine"" ""How thrilled students of art and literature, as well as aficionados of all matters Bloomsbury, should be. . . Brilliantly illuminating and deeply moving, The Artist Helen Coombe is a biographical treasure.""-- ""English Studies"""

Author Information

Martin Ferguson Smith is emeritus professor of classics at Durham University. His books include Dearest Jean: Rose Macaulay's Letters to a Cousin and In and Out of Bloomsbury: Biographical Essays on Twentieth-Century Writers and Artists.

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