For a colorful glimpse into 20th century art, literature, philosophy and culture all at once, one needs only to step onto Evanstons Northwestern University campus this winter.

The schools Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art is hosting a traveling exhibition, A Room of Their Own: The Bloomsbury Artists in American Collections, comprised of works by a creative group whose members collectively spanned these disciplines.

The British Bloomsbury groupnamed after the London area where Virginia Woolf and her siblings livedwas a circle of friends, relatives, spouses and lovers who met informally in the early part of the 20th century.

The group was sometimes regarded as scandalousparticularly amidst Victorian societyand was known for its free love, freethinking, anti-war sentiments and sense of artistic adventure.

Bloomsbury turned tradition on its head, wrote Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, a contributor to the shows nearly 300-page catalogue. Unmarried men and women lived together and conversed together without chaperones.

There were parties and love affairs, art galleries and long days spent with the pens and the brush, Gerzina added.

The group included writers such as Woolf, her husband Leonard, E.M. Forster and Lytton Strachey, along with economist John Maynard Keynes, art critic and painter Roger Fry, as well as visual artists Vanessa Bell, (Woolfs sister), Duncan Grant (Stracheys cousin) and Dora Carrington (Stracheys companion).

After Woolfs and Bells father died in 1904, they moved to Bloomsbury, an edgier part of London, where they entertained their brothers Cambridge friendslater to become the Bloomsbury group.

It so happens that it was a group jam-packed with geniuses, said Northwestern English professor Christine Froula.

People who have a background in English and literature are definitely more familiar with Bloomsbury as a group, said Corinne Granof, associate curator of the Block museum. What this exhibition does really is bring the visual arts to the fore and the literary figures are there.

We see their images in paintings and drawings and in the book section, but its really more of a focus now on what was done aesthetically and visually, she added.

The exhibition was first organized by Cornell and Duke universities in 2008, and includes more than 150 paintings, works on paper, vintage small-press books and decorative objects mostly by Bell, Fry, Grant and Carrington.

The works are largely influenced by post-impressionism, which Fry is credited for introducing to English culture with an exhibit of French artwork he held in 1910.

This group of artists was inspired by the work, Granof said.

The show includes paintings depicting the groups domestic activities as well as decorative furniture, textiles and images from Frys Omega Workshops.

Additionally, the exhibition includes Woolfs and others books published by Hogarth Pressfounded by Virginia and her husband Leonard in 1917with book covers designed by the artists.

A companion exhibition, Only ConnectBloomsbury Family and Friends, will also run at Northwestern University Library, 1970 Campus Drive.

Were going to be showing some works by their parents, by their siblings and then also by some of their descendents, said Scott Krafft, curator of the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections.

Extensive campus programming will also include related film screenings, a public education course, book discussions, art workshops, lectures and live theater.

The main exhibition will run at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus from Jan. 15 through March 14. For a complete listing of gallery times and related events, go to www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/.

By Blair Chavis|Triblocal.com reporter