Grant studied in London and Paris, and achieved early success when his paintings were shown in the Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition in 1912. During the First World War he moved to Charleston farmhouse in Sussex, where he became one of the central players in the famous Bloomsbury Group there.

Grant’s wartime lover, writer David Garnett, commissioned the young sculptor Stephen Tomlin to make this bust in 1924. Tomlin was also romantically involved with Grant and Garnett.

Two bronze casts were made of the piece in 1925: one for Garnett and the other for Grant’s former lover economist John Maynard Keynes. Another of Grant’s lovers, critic Eddy Sackville-West, bought the original plaster bust.

This cast is the version owned by Garnett. It joins the collection at Charleston, the home Grant decorated and shared with artist Vanessa Bell and other members of the Bloomsbury Group.

Provenance

The artist to David 'Bunny' Garnett; bequeathed to Richard Garnett; to the Bloomsbury Workshop, where bought by Sir Christopher Ondaatje.