Duncan Grant and the Bloomsbury Group

Grant's paintings of nude men and women embracing have a carefree, sensuous quality. His male nudes and wrestlers are charged with erotic energy. This Bloomsbury painter (1885-1978) won an early following with his large kinetic murals, searching portraits and simple post-impressionist landscapes. He fell out of favor in the 1940s, only to see his reputation revived in the 1970s as figurative painting made a comeback. Turnbaugh curated a Grant retrospective. Surprisingly, this candid, lively biography offers few artistic judgments, but it does dissect a tangled web of relationships. Grant's homosexual love affair with John Maynard Keynes is discussed, as is his comfortable domesticity with Vanessa Bell, who gave him the freedom to take numerous male lovers. One chapter traces his pivotal role in the Omega Workshops, where he innovated in the applied and decorative arts. (November)