Dulwich Picture Gallery in South London will be hosting a joint exhibition of photos by the Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell and punk creative Patti Smith. The show is due to open from February 8th from June 4th. 

The exhibition is showcasing a series of images taken at Bell’s farmhouse on the Sussex Downs in south England. The pictures taken by Smith, pay homage to the lingering moments of Belle’s life and “The Bloomsbury set”. A group of free thinkers, writers, that lived and created in the inter-war period. This community has caught Smith’s interest for years. 

Smith said in statement: “I felt a real longing to document this place in the same manner that I document my own home because it is very much how I live: books everywhere, things that seem very humble, very sacred, a simple wooden box, a shell, a paint tube— everything has significance.” 

Seven of Bell’s photography albums, on loan from the Tate archives, will be accompanying Smith’s collection. Bell’s works shed light on her artistic personality and her lifestyle with The Bloomsbury Set. The exhibition will have portraits of her husband, Clive Belle and lover Duncan Grant. Along with images from her childhood. The works give viewers a taste of how her life style and photography influenced her paintings.