Angelica Garnett and Bloomsbury - documentary (extract)

Angelica Garnett, last surviving member of the Bloomsbury Group, in conversation with Christopher Mason at her home in Forcalquier. As well as reading from her writings and talking about her paintings, she recalls her life with her parents Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, as well as other members of Bloomsbury, Virginia Woolf, Maynard Keynes and Lytton Strachey. Music by Myriam Martin. This 45 minute documentary is available on DVD from selected outlets in the UK or from the director Paul O'Dell at [e-mail]

[@carolking6355]

I watched this years ago but since found a photo of my 2nd cousin having afternoon tea in the garden with the Bloomsbury group. I am old now but he was a close friend of my Dads. He wrote poetry and sold pages at a penny a sheet. He worked as as a night watchman to support himself. He became great friends of Lady Ottoline Morrell and their letters are held in a University in the colonies. Walter D’Arcy Cresswell came from a wealthy family in New Zealand but was cast out from his family who were sheep station owners. Being artistic he didn’t fit in. I would love to know how he met up with the group and more about him. Sadly my father passed in the 1960s and I have no one to ask.

[@sterlingwalter6225]

she is fantastastic looking. what a pleasure to see and listen to her, thanks.

[@CorneliaAmiri]

So incredible to see this fabulous documentary right after watching Life in Squares - about the Bloomsbury group - so interesting and such a wonderful biographical historical drama

[@blessOTMA]

I enjoyed this, thank you for posting.

[@Tiffin59]

This is an extract from a longer dvd. I've just enjoyed watching it - again. A delightful way to spend time in the company of this remarkable and lucid person. I'm so glad the film makers did this while there was still time. Myriam Martin's evocative music suits the film so well.

[@NaMorales]

Her smile 😍

[@Oughut88]

Exquisitely beautifully woman. I sat at her grave in Firle recently. She is buried between Nessa and Duncan.

[@sterlingwalter6225]

re: her paintings Ms. Garnett is asked "How do you know when you're finished [with a painting].?"...why is this stupid question so popular w interviewers, ridiculous.

[@vincentmancini6279]

and as an artist he should know, I'm assuming.

[@AllAboutPurple]

I just want to know how she felt after finding out her husband and the father of her children was also her father’s lover without reading a whole book

[@teacakelake5098]

from an interview with AG in the Guardian: "But she says she was lucky to grow up in Bloomsbury all the same, and is relaxed about the sexually permissive culture in which she was raised: "I think it's inevitable, I mean I've got no moral feelings against it. It may not always work, unfortunately, but I don't think it matters people trying things out. I think this idea that people should experiment with each other is a good idea." (Though she also suggests that there may not have been as much sex as Bloomsbury legend suggests: "Everyone slept in different bedrooms, you know, they didn't hop into each other's beds, and it wasn't promiscuous at all as far as I can tell.")

[@jasonandlynnechambers3420]

I've just discovered she lived in Hilton Hall with Bunny. My father lives in the next village.

[@johnmorgan5495]

Cant hear Angelica

[@dalthawi-d]

I have used the loo at Charlston! By mistake of course!!

[@omp199]

How do you use a toilet by mistake?

[@bealreadyhappy]

What is the cello piece called?

[@MrPaulOdell]

This is part of a suite for cello by Myriam Martin-O'Dell called "Artsist Pictured Herein", being a series of musical portaits of her friends, Angelica Garnett, Christopher Mason, Joanna Carrington, Richard Edwards and Paul O'Dell. You can purchase a copy of the music and a documentary about its composition fron [e-mail]

[@shahji1314]

can i have the English subtitles

[@MrPaulOdell]

Sadly no version available with subtitles

[@dianabarnes2038]

Does anyone know the cellist?

[@MrPaulOdell]

The cellist is David Norton, playing music composed by Myriam Martin (incidentally part of a suite called "Artists Pictured Here-in"

[@vespelian5769]

Dreadful daubs that somehow surpass mediocrity, in part, through their very dreadfulness.

[@christinepaige2575]

Lol -- I don't feel competent to comment on the quality of the works, but will say that I felt terribly embarrassed for the interviewer when, upon inquiring about the framed pieces lining the walls (reasonably expecting, I think, to hear something about various noteworthy artists of Garnett's acquaintance), one... by one... by one they all turned out to be her own work. And it didn't seem to occur to her to show him anything that might have been done by someone else, although presumably there were a few such pieces near at hand. It just struck me as cringe-y. More than anything, though, I have felt sorry for Angelica Garnett -- even though she was blessed with beauty and did not want for creature comforts. She, like many children of well-known and highly accomplished people, grew up ringed by figures that others regarded as giants, and being always in their shadow, probably was somewhat stunted in her own development. Wrt the harrowing fallout from the intimate conduct of her parents, I rejoice that she got a little of her own back by writing "Deceived with Kindness".

[@bewareofpigeons]

Such is your opinion: I found them very original and full of imagination.

[@frane2566]

Interesting, I found the lighting and arrangement of shapes on most of them to be very pleasing

[@zthetha]

Oh dear...we're back with the dreary, pretentious Bloomsburys again. A vastly over-rated bunch of dysfunctionals who seem to have been taken up by some middleclass Brits as a paradigm of bohemian creativity. Given the tight laced attitudes of the time I suppose they did seem outrageous and fascinating to those hoping to be outraged and fascinated by something or other. This old girl's daubs are at best banal and no different from the effluvia of any geriatric art club. Carrington could knock out some homely images with a fair sense of style and Strachey could certainly write.

[@Dianaemanuel]

I wonder why on earth you bothered to watch and then make such a negative comment? Surely you have something more positive to do?

[@denisehansen9055]

Agreed.

[@hiitsmehereagain]

willie otoole someone’s very bitter

[@italianaqueer]

Hello, Is It still possible to buy the DVD? Thanks!