Letter: Bloomsbury arts not elitist

From Mr Quentin Bell

Sir: Polly Toynbee tells us that the Bloomsbury group "encouraged lesser mortals to think that art was not for them".

Maynard Keynes, a central figure in Bloomsbury, became chairman of the wartime Council for the Encouragement of Music and Arts in 1942, and transformed that body into the Arts Council. I suppose Ms Toynbee thinks that was "just for toffs".

Yours faithfully,

Quentin Bell

Firle,

Sussex

19 October