Lisa Unger Baskin Collection
Writer and feminist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was at the center of English literary culture during the Bloomsbury Group era. One of the leading figures of modernist literature, her most notable works are the novels Mrs Dalloway, Orlando, To the Lighthouse, The Waves and the feminist essay A Room of One's Own.
Woolf acquired this oak writing desk while she was in her teens and used it until she was around thirty years old. She specifically requested a standing desk. Standing desks were commonly used in business offices during the nineteenth century, and many writers have used them (including Charles Dickens and Ernest Hemingway).
In 1929, Woolf gave the desk to her nephew, Quentin Bell. His wife cut six inches off the legs to make it a sitting desk, and Bell, himself an artist and member of the Bloomsbury Group, painted it. The riser used in this exhibition returns the desk to its original height.
In addition to the entrepreneurial spirit shared by the desk and the books in this exhibit documenting women’s contributions to science, it is worth noting that Woolf scholars have paid particular attention to Woolf's deep interest in physics, astronomy, neuroscience, Darwinian evolution, psychoanalysis, as well as the philosophy of science.
The acquisition of the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection was made possible through a lead gift from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
This exhibition was sponsored in part by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
