Julian Bell

Julian Bell

Julian Bell has close links with the Bloomsbury Group, being the son of potter and critic, Quentin Bell, and the grandson of the painter, Vanessa Bell. He is a respected painter who brings an inside knowledge of the technical and mental processes involved in image-making to his masterly history of art, 'Mirror of the World'.
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Julian Bell Self-portrait
Julian Bell Self-portrait as a Writer and Artist

He is also the author of Bonnard (1994), What is Painting? (Thames & Hudson, 1999), 500 Self-Portraits (2000), and has written on other painters’ work for various national publications, including the TLS, Guardian, Modern Painters and the London Review of Books.

His poetry has appeared in the London Quarterly, and for three years he was an associate editor of The Grove Dictionary of Art. He is currently Acting Head of Humanities at the City & Guilds Art School in London. He lives in Sussex.

See the video of Julian Bell discussing the making of 'Mirror of the World' and the intriguing problems of chronology when writing a world history of art.

See also the video of Julian Bell revealing the pleasures and difficulties of choosing pictures from centuries of world art to illustrate 'Mirror of the World'.

By Julian Bell
Mirror of the World