BELL, Vanessa. Unused Version for the cover design for Virginia Woolf's "The Years". (c.1935)

ARTIST: BELL, Vanessa ( Virginia Woolf ). 

TITLE: Unused version for the cover design for Virginia Woolf's "The Years".

PLACE: England: c.1935.

DESCRIPTION: Blue and black watercolor over Graphite sketch on Paper; 7-3/4" x 5-3/8", Unsigned, small pencil "10" to verso lower right corner, framed 11-3/4" x 9-1/2".

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Vanessa Bell designed dust-jackets for all but the first of her sister's novels.  Generally Bell would put together a design for Woolf's novels without reading it.  "The Years" was the last book published in Virginia's lifetime.  It was also the one which was the most popular and sold most widely during her lifetime.

PROVENANCE: From the Estate of Marcuse "Cusie" Pfeifer (1936 - 2020).  Most likely purchased in London from Bloomsbury workshop.

Marcuse championed contemporary photography at the eponymous New York gallery she founded in 1976 and in doing so, helped launch the careers of Peter Hujar and Sally Mann.

Marcuse not only collected photography, she was also an avid collector of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury circle. She had an extensive collection of first edition Bloomsbury books which were donated to Sarah Lawrence College.