Typically English conversation in a typically English setting. On the left is the brother of the artist, Adrian. Opposite him, journalist Leonard Wolfe, the husband of Virginia, the sister of Vanessa Bell, settled down in the chair. On the right is Clive Bell. More precisely – only part of Clive Bell. Esham House Leonard and Virginia Wolfe leased just in the very same year of 1912, when this picture was written.
Actually, they were married only this year. Esham House was in a picturesque area, in the county of Sussex. A large and noisy company often gathered here, and close friends stayed almost constantly, replacing each other. Bell presents us with a “snapshot” of exactly such a meeting in a narrow family-friendly circle. In 1911-12, the artist was actively looking for her own style, moving simultaneously in two directions. The first is characterized by large, carefully “painted” areas of even tone on the canvas.
The second direction in Bell painting of these years is characterized by a light, rapid brushstroke, in which the shapes outlined by the dark contour appear as shaded markers. “A conversation in Ash House,” as the reader can easily see, is written in a second manner. The desire for simplification, the rate of instantaneousity deprives the heroes of persons, but their figures and poses do not lose in expression at all. The color scheme of the picture is solved in orange, red and green colors, so beloved by Vanessa Bell during this period.
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