In many ways this fine art print 'The Schoolroom' is both quintessential Bloomsbury and also representative of Vanessa Bell’s work. With strong colours and bold patterns, this painting is like a textile fabric Bell might have designed for the Omega Workshops.
This print was initially commissioned by Robert Wellington and John Piper for their second series of Contemporary Lithographs. This was a venture which sought to offer work by acclaimed artists to places not known for their expenditure on art – to schools for instance. The school room depicted here is perhaps of a type not widely recognized, but it portrays the kind of place that Vanessa Bell, who was home educated, and who started a small home school for her own children, would have known.