From Victorian to modern: innovation and tradition in the work of Vanessa Bell, Gwen John and Laura Knight

Abstract

The book examines the impact of modernism on the work of three women artists - Laura Knight (b. 1877), Vanessa Bell (b. 1879) and Gwen John (b. 1876) - whose training and early artistic careers were rooted in the Victorian tradition. The book ranges them alongside each other to examine and compare their development, their work and the positions they took in the crucial years of their careers between 1890 and 1920. Gerrish Nunn casts a new light on each artist, putting their works into a comparative context and other neglected works into a critical conversation which illuminates women's participation in the important question of how British art negotiated the challenge posed by Post-Impressionism, abstraction, significant form and the demise of narrative anecdote at the beginning of the twentieth century.