Walter Sickert: A Conversation
by Virginia Woolf
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As well as being one of the greatest novelists in the English language, Virginia Woolf was also a prolific essayist. In Walter Sickert: A Conversation (first published in 1934), Woolf argues for a close connection between the visual arts and literature and for Sickert's pre-eminence among living painters. The essay takes us behind the scenes at a dinner party among liiterary friends who have recently attended a Sickert exhibition. The language employed is vivid and quite unlike conventional show more art criticism. One, on entering the show, became all eye. I flew from colour to colour, from red to blue, from yellow to green. Colours went spirally through my body lighting a flare as if a rocket fell through the night... Another argues that Sickert's skills as a portraitist make him a great biographer...When he paints a portrait I read a life Another argues that He is more of a novelist than a biographer... He likes to set his characters in motion, to see them in action. On one thing they all agree: Sickert is probably the best painter now living in England. since its original publication, this new edition features the original cover artwork, a charming pen-and-ink drawing by Virginia Woolf's sister, the artist Vanessa Bell. show lessTags
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Pretentious. But did make me want to go and look at Walter Sickert paintings, so not all bad.
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649+ Works 118,988 Members
Virginia Woolf was born in London, England on January 25, 1882. She was the daughter of the prominent literary critic Leslie Stephen. Her early education was obtained at home through her parents and governesses. After death of her father in 1904, her family moved to Bloomsbury, where they formed the nucleus of the Bloomsbury Group, a circle of show more philosophers, writers, and artists. During her lifetime, she wrote both fiction and non-fiction works. Her novels included Jacob's Room, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and Between the Acts. Her non-fiction books included The Common Reader, A Room of One's Own, Three Guineas, The Captain's Death Bed and Other Essays, and The Death of the Moth and Other Essays. Having had periods of depression throughout her life and fearing a final mental breakdown from which she might not recover, Woolf drowned herself on March 28, 1941 at the age of 59. Her husband published part of her farewell letter to deny that she had taken her life because she could not face the terrible times of war. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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