1
It was commissioned by Kenneth Clark
A key figure in twentieth century British art, art historian, museum director and broadcaster Kenneth Clark was one of the most active collectors of contemporary British art during the 1930s and 1940s.
Shortly after his appointment as Director of the National Gallery in 1932 he was inspired to commission an artist-designed dinner service following a lavish meal in New York with art dealer Joseph Duvee, during which they ate from an elaborate blue-and-gold Sèvres service, originally made for Catherine the Great.
Clark decided to commission the Bloomsbury group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant to design his dinner service. The pair had already gained recognition in the applied arts through the Omega Workshops, where – along with a revolving roster of other artists – they produced textiles, furniture, book covers and homeware.
In his autobiography, Clark would later reveal that the commission was an attempt to ‘revive’ Grant’s interest in the decorative arts. Writing about his visits to Grant’s studio, he described how:
‘it contained groups of rusting pottery, gathering dust, and vases of mimosa which had long since lost all the colour of life. On these unappetizing themes Duncan and Vanessa concentrated their talents… in an attempt to revive his interest in decorative art we asked him and Vanessa to paint us a dinner service.’
Kenneth Clark, Another Part of the Wood, 1974, pp.247-8.