Anne Olivier Bell (née Popham; 22 June 1916 – 18 July 2018) was an English art scholar. She was part of the
Bloomsbury Group and best known for editing the diaries of
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
. As a member of the ''
Monuments Men
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
'', she was responsible for the protection of cultural artefacts in Europe during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and earned the military rank of ''
Major.''
Early life
Anne Olivier Popham was born in London to
Arthur Popham, an expert in Italian art, and
Brynhild
Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label= Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda ...
, daughter of
Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier
Sydney Haldane Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier, (16 April 1859 – 15 February 1943) was a British civil servant. A Fabian and a member of the Labour Party, he served as Governor of Jamaica and as Secretary of State for India in the first govern ...
and a cousin of
Laurence Olivier.
[
Anne had two brothers. Her parents divorced in 1924.][ After her mother's remarriage to F. R. G. N. Sherrard, she moved with them to Dorset. Her mother had three more children with Sherrard.]
Anne's mother died in 1935, after which she lived with her father. She attended St Paul's Girls' School
St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England.
History
St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...
, then went to Germany to train as an opera singer. Unsuccessful in this, she returned to London to join the Central School of Speech and Drama
The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...
. Her audition for the Royal Albert Hall failed, and she enrolled at the Courtauld Institute
The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...
.[
In 1937 she was in Paris for the World's Fair, where she met and had a relationship with Graham Bell.][ He painted a portrait of her, which is now at the Tate Museum.
After the Second World War, Anne met ]Quentin Bell
Quentin Claudian Stephen Bell (19 August 1910 – 16 December 1996) was an English art historian and author.
Early life
Bell was born in London, the son of Clive Bell and Vanessa Bell (née Stephen), and the nephew of Virginia Woolf (née Ste ...
, who asked her to model for him. They married in 1952. In 1967, they moved to Cobbe Place in Beddingham, when Bell was made Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Sussex.[ The couple had three children, two daughters and a son.][
]
Career
Second World War
Anne was compiling a study of Rubens as a research associate of a German historian in London[ when the war broke out. Her employer was interned and she joined the Ministry of Information, working with Laurie Lee. She was a research assistant in the photographs division and then in the publications department, where she published documentation on the British war effort.][ She was also an air raid warden in London.]
In 1945, Anne became one of the ''Monuments Men
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
'', seeking to prevent the destruction of cultural artefacts in Germany, and to restore artworks stolen by the Nazis. She travelled to Bünde, the only female member of the programme and the only civilian, albeit with a rank of major.[ While the men sought out hidden art, she was responsible for organisation and documentation.][
Anne invited Franz Wolff-Metternich, a curator of historical monuments and an art professor, to the officers' club. She wanted to discuss the restitution of stolen artworks to museums, but her colleagues refused to dine with him. She was to become unpopular with her colleagues for her willingness to socialise with the Germans.]
Anne's diaries of her time with the Monument Men are now at the Imperial War Museum archives.[
A detailed wartime biography of Maj. Anne Bell's contribution to the MFAA, as well as her pre and post war life, is maintained by the ]Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art
The Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art is an American IRS approved 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, which honors the legacy of those who served in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program during and after World War ...
.
Arts Council
Anne joined the Arts Council in 1947. She was responsible for the publication of exhibition catalogues. She also escorted paintings from the Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pi ...
in Munich for an exhibition at the National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
, London.
Virginia Woolf
Anne assisted her husband, Quentin Bell, in his monumental biography of Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
by compiling index cards for each month of her life, and copying Leonard Woolf
Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own wo ...
's diaries. The biography was published to acclaim in 1972. Anne then edited the diaries of Virginia Woolf, publishing them in five volumes starting in 1977.
She then published a book ''Editing Virginia Woolf's Diary'', detailing her work as editor.[
Anne Olivier Bell received honorary doctorates from the ]University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
and University of York.[ In 1984, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
]
Charleston
The Charleston Farmhouse was the country seat of the Bloomsbury group. After the death of Duncan Grant
Duncan James Corrowr Grant (21 January 1885 – 8 May 1978) was a British painter and designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets and costumes. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group.
His father was Bartle Grant, a "poverty-stricken" major i ...
in 1978, Anne was instrumental in establishing a charitable trust to preserve the property. The artistic influence of the Bloomsbury group was fading by then, and the farmhouse itself was in a poor state of repair. It took six years of fundraising to monetise the trust.
Charleston became open to the public in the 1980s, presented in the period style of the Bloomsbury group.[ Till her death, she was the president of the trust. She was also an expert on the artworks preserved there, and an editor of ''Canvas'', the publication of the Friends of Charleston.][
]
Later life
While the British government did not initially acknowledge the efforts of the Monument Men, the US established a foundation to recognise them, and Anne was lauded in 2007 for her contributions.[ She received an ]MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
in the New Year's Honours list of 2014 for services to Literature and the Arts.
Anne's 2013 portrait by Eva Vermandel resides in the permanent collection of London's National Portrait Gallery.
Anne lived with her husband in Firle
Firle (; Sussex dialect: ''Furrel'' ) is a village and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word ''fierol'' meaning overgrown with oak. Although the original division of East ...
, East Sussex.[
Her husband Quentin died in 1996.][ Anne Olivier Bell died on 18 July 2018.][
]
Selected works
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*
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*
*
References
External links
Anne Olivier Popham Bell, Monuments Men
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Anne Olivier
1916 births
2018 deaths
Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art
People educated at St Paul's Girls' School
Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design
Bloomsbury Group
British centenarians
Women centenarians
Olivier family
People from Firle