Second Bell Question

   Do you think Clive Bell’s bad relationship with his wife had any effect on him? Did it affect the way he wrote and how pretentious he was?

Clive Bell and his wife Vanessa Stephan had quite the stormy marriage and were often with other men and women throughout their marriage until it ended shortly after it began. I am under the presumption that this heavily affected the way he philosophized, thought, and acted toward his general audience. Although there is no direct evidence in Art about his relationship to his wife, we can see how his biases could have possibly formed from his tumultuous marriage. Bell, without reason, says that The Doctor and Paddington Station are not pieces of art--he is a larger appreciator of abstract art but he should still be able to see the lines and colors in these paintings. However, I believe that he despises or envies the relationships, the particularly human relationships, in the paintings, even though they are very base: a doctor and his patient and the people in a train station. It is evident that Clive Bell did not have many close friendships or relationships.

   Adding on to this, Clive Bell was not able to see eye to eye with anyone, partly wont of the fact that he could not empathize with anyone or look from a different perspective than his own. It would not be surprising if we discovered that Clive Bell was also racist and extremely closed-minded to anything apart from what he likes. As an art critic, the critic is supposed to take all art into account and not just the art that one enjoys. Clive Bell sees any other art than the kind that he likes as bad art and un-aesthetic.