Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism

A book of real substance written with style and panache, copious fresh information and many insights. Throughout, one senses that a strong mind is in control of the material - the whole literary performance is persuasive and confidence-inducing -- Julian Bell This sympathetic and painstakingly researched portrait restores Clive Bell vividly to life, both as a man and as a cultural figure whose art criticism influenced a generation -- Lucasta Miller Amusing, charming, stimulating, urbane -- Laura Freeman * The Times * Offers a missing piece in the familiar Bloomsbury jigsaw ... Mark Hussey ... moves around the complex history of the Bloomsbury Group with near-faultless command. He is also a suave and sophisticated historian, able to link Bell's life very effectively with the historical moment -- Frances Spalding * Literary Review * [A] meticulously researched and well-informed account ... Revelatory ... Hussey's patient recuperative work is important in reminding us that the significant players in last century's art history often refuse to fit our sentimental requirements -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian * This spirited, urbane figure emerges engagingly from the shadow of his more famous contemporaries in this first definitive biography * Town & Country, Book of the Week * With this entertaining and nuanced biography, Hussey has filled in a valuable piece of the Bloomsbury jigsaw, providing rich new insight into a major player in the story of 20th-century art -- Francesca Wade * Apollo * Hussey gives us a ... nuanced, complex portrait of Clive Bell, celebrating his accomplishments without obscuring the less appealing aspects of his character ... Perceptive ... [A] remarkable book ... There could not be a more fitting tribute to Clive Bell and his life's work * Literature Cambridge *