Throughout 1908 and 1909, Woolf was frequently told she
should marry. She was, she was told, getting old; at twenty-seven,
Woolf was dangerously close to becoming a spinster. Few in the
Bloomsbury Group were suitable since many were gay. Woolf cast
her eye on Lytton Strachey despite the fact that he was openly
gay. He was also a dark, depressive and often impossible man. But
he was also brilliant, and that was quite attractive to Woolf.
Lytton, for his part, had strong feelings for Woolf, who was an
exceptionally beautiful, exceptionally intelligent woman. However,
his feelings confused him and led to an uncomfortable situation.
On February 17th, 1909, Lytton Strachey proposed marriage
to Woolf, and she accepted. The next day, however, he withdrew
his proposal and Woolf graciously agreed to it, saying she was
not in love with him. However, she was disappointed as she very
much wanted to marry and she deeply admired Strachey. That summer,
a man named Hilton Young proposed to Woolf but she did not love him
and told him, as excuse, that she could marry no one but Strachey.
Back in London, the Bloomsbury Group began to grow and
to flourish. The group, sharing philosophies on art, literature
and politics, took as their directive a tenet from philosopher
G.E. Moore who believed that these things could only be discussed
ideally in a setting in which frankness and freedom from stifling
social dictates could exist. The group firmly believed in the social
function of art, and many in the circle had a chance to put that
into practice, including Woolf and Roger Fry, who would join the
group in 1910. Bloomsbury was gaining a reputation in London, and
it wasn't a favorable one. Other artists saw the group as a snobbish
secret society fraught with pretension and arrogance. Woolf, however,
thrived in their company.
In February of that year, some of the Bloomsbury crew
pulled a prank on the British Navy by dressing up as Ethiopian
dignitaries-even blackening their faces–and taking a tour of the
British naval ship, and secret man-of-war, the Drednaught. Woolf
took part in this, though others thought it ill advised. It was
a success and got into the papers, embarrassing the government.
As Woolf came to the end of The Voyage Out, she
fell ill. It was a pattern that would be repeated nearly every
time she came to the end of a work. Woolf spent some time in a
nursing home in Twickenham, a step down from an insane asylum.
That August, Vanessa gave birth to Quentin Bell. Woolf recovered
and moved back to London, putting her energies into the Adult Suffrage
Movement with her sister. In 1910, Clive, Woolf and Vanessa met
Roger Fry for the first time. Roger Fry was a brilliant art critic
and painter who was particularly supportive of modern French painting,
specifically the then little-known post-impressionists like Cézanne,
Picasso and Matisse. Largely due to Roger Fry, 1910 was an aesthetic
turning point in England. Fry organized the First Post-Impressionist
Exhibition that November, showing the artwork of Van Gogh, Matisse and
Picasso, among others. The artwork was unorthodox, shocking and
offensive to many art lovers in London. It was an extremely controversial
show.
The next year, Clive, Vanessa and Roger Fry traveled to
Constantinople to look at ancient art. Woolf chose not to join
them until she received word that Vanessa was ill. She met them
there and once in Constantinople, got to know Fry and found him
delightful. Yet by the time the group returned to London, it was
Vanessa who was in love with Fry. He had likewise fallen in love
with Vanessa and as a result, Clive and Vanessa's marriage shifted
into a union of friendship. From that point on, they had an open
marriage, with both Clive and Vanessa taking many lovers. Vanessa,
in fact, proposed sexual anarchy amongst the Bloomsbury Group,
and promoted a libertarian society. From that point on, it was
official: Bloomsbury was scandalous. In July, Woolf entertained
her third proposal of marriage, this time from Walter Lamb. She
turned him down.
