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Duncan Grant: A Biography

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In many ways the painter Duncan Grant is one of the most intriguing members of the Bloomsbury group. A homosexual, he was lover to many of the celebrated male members of that circle: Lytton Strachey, Maynard Keynes, etc. Yet he also chose to live for 40 years with, (& father a child by), the painter Vanessa Bell. Frances Spalding has perviously written an admirable bio of V. Bell, & Grant's family asked her to tackle Grant, with lukewarm results. To me, the process of painting is unexplainable, the best attempt ever written, to my mind, is Maugham's "Moon & Sixpence,"; Spalding's attempts at describing Grant's artistic processes fall flat, & frankly are boring. More interesting to me are the almost incredible personal events that swirled around Grant; That notable procession of lovers, the extraordinary relationship with Bell, the bizarre fact that Grant had affairs with his Daughter's uncle, future husband, & lover! What did Duncan Grant have that so many people wanted? What did he really think of the curious relationship between himself & Bell & their daughter Angelica (who did not know till she was 18 that she was his daughter.) Why would a woman like Vanessa Bell essentially give up her sexual life to live with Grant? And why did Grant, an enthusiastic homosexual, choose to devote a major portion of his life to this woman? Spalding had complete access to Grant's papers & letters, but her feeble attempts to explain Grant's character (beyond his apparent physical beauty, he is called "charming" so many times that I lost count) are pallid. Prehaps, in the end, apart from Grant's enormous talent for painting-and we get a rather niggardly peek at the work-there was no "there there." Read Spalding's "Vanessa Bell: A Biography" for a sharper view of the people & events surrounding Grant's unusual life, "Duncan Grant" is a disappointment.

Marvellous, Spalding's skill is to sketch out the intricate emotional web against the bright bold untouchable figure of the artist. Her achievement is to let that sense of a man living with a craft shine through on every page: the result in an exceptionally honest and warm portrait. Her tone is objective but sympathetic and generous. This biography accomplishes what is, or should be, the biographer's highest goal: it does not come between the reader and the subject.