‘Virginia Woolf – A Modern Mind’ – A 2023 New York Public Library Exhibition

New York Public Library exhibition post for ‘Virginia Woolf – A Modern Mind’ 

“Buildings fall; even the earth perishes. What was yesterday a cornfield is today a bungalow. But words, if properly used, seem able to live for ever.” – Virginia Woolf, BBC broadcast Words Fail Me, 1937. 

I was lucky enough to be in New York in 2023 when the New York Public Library held their exhibition ‘Virginia Woolf – A Modern Mind’. As is the way with this blog, I had good intentions of writing about it at the time, but then life got in the way. I have finally got round to capturing my thoughts on this exhibition, and on reflection, I am so pleased that my trip to New York coincided with being able to see this incredible collection. 

New York Public Library exhibition ‘Virginia Woolf – A Modern Mind’ 

Housed in just one small room in the New York Public Library, this exhibition was packed with books, manuscripts, and artefacts all relating to Virginia Woolf and The Hogarth Press.  I had never seen so many Virginia Woolf first editions with Vanessa Bell front covers all in one place at the same time. It was the first time I really understood how transformative Woolf’s work must have been at the time she was writing. When so many books from that time were plain, cloth bound editions, to have those vibrant covers must have been so refreshing. 

Virginia Woolf books, Jacob's Room, To The Lighthouse and The Waves

I don’t think I had also realised how exciting the rest of the Hogarth Press works were either. Equally vibrant and modern, in a world that had just come out of the horrors of the first world war.

The Memorial by Christopher Isherwood by The Hogarth Press

A Letter To A Young Poet by Virginia Woolf published by The Hogarth Press

The exhibition commentary consisted of short biographical information about Woolf, picking out key highlights from her work and life, and large quotes from her diaries and writings illustrated with some of the few photographs of her at different stages in her life. As well as copies of her books, there were letters to friends, manuscripts, and sketches from Vanessa Bell for front cover designs. One object that was fascinating was Virginia Woolf’s passport from 1923. 

Virginia Woolf's passport from 1923

There wasn’t much in this exhibition that I didn’t know about, but somehow seeing all the books together in one place gave me a very different sense of what the impact The Hogarth Press must have had on the world of publishing, and those common readers who bought the books. What I hadn’t seen before was the business correspondence, such as this short card from Virginia Woolf detailing how their subscription service would work. 

A letter to a subscriber about The Hogarth Press

The ‘Complete Catalogue of the Hogarth Press’ must have been exciting post to receive. Persephone Books still sends out postal communications to their readers and I am always excited when something from them lands on the door mat. 

Complete Catalogue of the Hogarth Press

There was a mention of Persephone Books in the notes about ‘Cheerful Weather for the Wedding’ by Julia Strachey, published by The Hogarth Press in 1932 with a wonderful cover by Harold Knight. This book was out of print for a long time, until Persephone Books published it in 2002, reviving interest in it. 

Cheerful Weather for the Wedding’ by Julia Strachey, published by The Hogarth Press

I was pleased to see that the exhibition included the work of Vanessa Bell, in particular this sketch for the cover of ‘On Being Ill’. It is quite different from the finished book, but you can see some of the ideas coming through, the use of squares, and the capitalisation of the title and author name. 

Sketch for 'On Being Ill'

 On Being Ill published by The Hogarth Press

The exhibition highlighted the collection of Woolf materials the New York Public Library holds. After Virginia’s death in 1941, Leonard Woolf worked on her diaries and felt that it was important that her papers be held together in one collection. The library is keen to state that the collection is open to anyone, “all you need is a research project – and a library card” and a plane ticket to New York!

To The Lighthouse published by The Hogarth Press

I was so pleased I happened to be in New York when this exhibition was on, it isn’t often you get to see so much of Woolf’s work in one place, and I enjoyed it so much I visited twice while I was there. 

Kew Gardens

 

Hornet with Wild Roses by Tirzah Garwood, 1955. On display at Dulwich Picture Gallery April 2025.

Kew Gardens was written in 1917, and then published in various forms by the Hogarth Press between 1919 and 1927, all with slightly different texts, the one I read was from the Complete Shorter Fiction and taken from the third edition.

This short story, just 6 pages in my book but 22 pages in the third edition published by the Hogarth Press with illustrations by Vanessa Bell, is a moment in time at Kew Gardens on a hot summer day. There are two scenes, the minutia of an oval flower bed with flowers of red, blue or yellow and the people who walk by. The people passing by are observed by a snail who is making its way across the soil. 

Kew Gardens seen at New York Public Library Virginia Woolf exhibition, February 2023

Kew Gardens on display at Sissinghurst Castles Gardens, Kent, August 2024

Kew Gardens is more of a literary sketch than a short story.  There is no real narrative, nothing much happens by way of a plot, but we get a glimpse into the lives of the people who wander past the flower bed with the focus passing from group to group. The only constant is the flower bed itself. Despite very little actually happening, your interest in these characters is peaked. The first man to come along. Simon is thinking back to 15 years ago when he was in Kew Gardens proposing to a woman, who is not the wife who follows behind with their children now. 

The old man and his younger companion make an odd couple, is the old man “merely eccentric or genuinely mad” we never find out as the focus moves to the two women following behind them. As the story draws to a close, Woolf causes us to reflect on all the people in the park and wonder who they are and what they might be thinking. We can’t make out what they are saying but “Voices, yes, voices, wordless voices, breaking the silence suddenly with such depth of contentment, such passion of desire.”

The observations of the oval flower bed and all the tiny details of its inhabitants, and the way that the drama is observed from the snail’s point of view, places you right there in the soil with the red, blue or yellow flowers towering over you. I love the way that Woolf observes the changes of light and colour caused by the reflections of the petals, and how much detail goes into the experience of the snail. The way it moves across the soil, displacing “the crumbs of loose earth” and how it contemplates whether to go over or under “the arched tent of a dead leaf”. In the end “he was doubtful whether the thin texture which vibrated with such an alarming crackle when touched even by the tip of his horns would bear his weight.” 

This is the second time a snail has been a focal point of a Virginia Woolf short story, following the delightful revelation in The Mark on the Wall. What surprised me about both stories is how much can be written about the small goings on in our lives that we barely notice. How often do you stop and pay attention to the light on a flower bed in a garden, or watch a snail make its way across your garden and wonder what the world looks like from his perspective? 

I’m sure I will revisit Kew Garden at some point. The whole purpose of reading Virginia Woolf in the order she wrote her work is to gain a greater understanding of her process and I’m sure the more I read, the more I will reflect on how her earlier writing influences and underpins her later work.

The image I have used for this piece is by Tirzah Garwood, called Hornet with Wild Roses. Painted in 1955 at the end of her life. I saw it at the Tirzah Garwood exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in April 2025 and it reminded me of Kew Gardens, with the perspective of the flower bed.