OMEGA AND AFTER: Bloomsbury and the Decorative...

OMEGA AND AFTER: Bloomsbury and the Decorative Arts by Isabelle Anscombe, photographs by Howard Grey (Thames & Hudson: $19.95; 176 pp.). Anscombe traces the story of the short-lived (May, 1913 to June, 1919) atelier that involved some of the most prominent members of the literary movement. Organized to spur interest in the British Post-Impressionist painters and to give jobs to the founders’ artist-friends, Omega specialized in the decorative arts. The ingenuous forms, muted primary colors and faux-naive decorations of their ceramics, furniture and fabrics have a surprisingly contemporary look.