Described by Virginia Woolf as ‘the devastation of all hearts’, Stephen Tomlin, whose works are currently offered for sale at Philip Mould & Company, was the Bloomsbury group’s primary sculptor. He immortalised the faces of Bloomsbury’s best-known characters, including Duncan Grant, Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf herself.
He is, arguably, the Bloomsbury group’s least well-known member. Yet Stephen Tomlin (1901-1937), with his glossy mop of hair, disarming charisma and undeniable talent, deserves to be just as renowned as his contemporaries. Now the first major exhibition of his work at Philip Mould & Company - The Bloomsbury Stud: The Art of Stephen Tomlin (5 June – 11 August 2023) - is aiming to return Tomlin to the spotlight and explore an alternative view of the Bloomsbury group, through the eyes of Tomlin.
During his all too brief life and career, Tomlin established himself as the Bloomsbury group’s primary sculptor, immortalising the faces of his friends and fellow artists through a series of compelling busts, realised in a variety of materials and notable for their realism and stylised simplicity.
The Bloomsbury Stud: The Art of Stephen Tomlin will include busts of Lytton Strachey (1929), Duncan Grant (1925, on loan from the Charleston Trust) and Virginia Woolf (1931, on loan from the Charleston Trust). The display also features a magnificent pair of reclining ceramics, painted by Duncan Grant, that embody the success of Bloomsbury’s collaborative artistic mindset. Male Figure (mid-1930s) and Female Figure (mid-1930s) combine the anatomically congruous qualities of a sculptor, the technical brilliance of a ceramicist, and the painterly intuition of an artist.
Displayed nearby will be John Banting’s 1925 Portrait of Stephen Tomlin (courtesy of The Radev Collection) showing the sculptor shirtless and with an impressively muscular physique.
The Bloomsbury Stud: The Art of Stephen Tomlin - 5 June – 11 August 2023
Further Information: Stephen Tomlin | Philip Mould & Company