New show exploring Bloomsbury Set’s impact on fashion to kick off the group’s retreat expansion to Sussex

Charleston, the Bloomsbury Group’s rural retreat in East Sussex, is expanding, launching two exhibitions and a program of community projects at Southover House in nearby Lewes.

Basically, the move – approved by Lewes District Council – could lead to the launch of a permanent cultural center in the city that would skirt Charleston located in the village of Firle. A dedicated Bloomsbury gallery has also been proposed for the new city center site, which would show some of the group’s most important works. The coterie of artists and writers such as Virginia Woolf and Duncan Grant was considered unconventional, but today its members are considered queer pioneers.

The new space in Lewes is due to open later this year (September 13-January 7) with Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashionan exhibition exploring the Bloomsbury Group’s influence and legacy on fashion.

The exhibition, curated by writer Charlie Porter (who will publish a book of the same name to coincide with the opening of the exhibition) will include a number of key Bloomsbury items such as necklaces worn by Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell in an 1896 photograph; a bag, hand-embroidered by Bell, which belonged to Woolf, and the manuscript of an 1888 essay by painter and critic Roger Fry titled Are we going to wear top hats?

Porter will also highlight the Bloomsbury Group’s impact on contemporary designers such as Kim Jones (Fendi) and Christopher Bailey (Burberry). Porter said in a statement: “The Bloomsbury Group has engaged in fashion in a dynamic way, from philosophical thought to radical clothing. Don’t bring any clothes uses clothing to shed new light on their lives, as well as provide insight into how we dress today. The exhibition is sponsored by Christian Dior Couture.

The second exhibition in Lewes overseen by the Charleston team is dedicated to British artist Jonathan Baldock (September 13-January 7) who will present a series of large-scale sculptural installations in an exhibition billed as his first investigative exhibition British. Both shows will be accompanied by learning programs, artist-led workshops and community initiatives.

“This first season of programming in Lewes will allow Charleston to continue consultation with the local community to explore the long-term potential for developing a cultural center in a city that has never had a major civic art museum.” , indicates a project brief.

The expansion could even lead to a new “Bloomsbury Gallery” with more than 100 major Bloomsbury works brought back to Sussex. Nathaniel Hepburn, the manager of Charleston, recounts The arts journal: “Three national museums with important Bloomsbury collections [the National Portrait Gallery, Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum] all took part in tours of the new site in Lewes and wrote letters of support for the establishment of a permanent Bloomsbury Gallery in the building as a unique model of partnership to share the national collections with audiences outside of London . Charleston, a registered charity, opened to the public in 1986.