Bell, Clive

Clive Bell was an English art critic associated with the Bloomsbury Group. He was born in East Sheffield, Bedfordshire, England, to William Heward Bell, a wealthy coal mine owner, and Hannah Taylor Cory. After being educated at Marlborough and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied history, Bell received a scholarship to study art in Paris. Returning to England, he moved to London, and met Vanessa Stephen—the sister of Virginia Woolf—who he would marry in 1907. They would have two sons, Julian and Quentin, before their marriage dissolved. Bell was a pacifist during both World Wars; he travelled widely and wrote art criticism and lectured on the importance of art. Known as a prominent proponent of formalism in aesthetics, he published several acclaimed books, including “Art” (1914) and “Civilization” (1928).