Phoebe Pool (1913–1971) was a British art historian and spy for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Life

Pool was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1913, the daughter of Gordon Desmond Pool and Agatha Eleanor Burrows. She was diagnosed with depression at an early age. In 1931 Pool won a scholarship to

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, entering in 1932 to study history. In 1934, Pool was awarded the Deakin History Essay Prize, but her mental illness prevented her from taking her degree. After leaving university, she lectured for the

Workers' Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...

(WEA) before working at Westminster Tutors,

, from 1942. She also wrote reviews for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

''. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

she worked for

Air Raid Precautions Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s a ...

. In 1945 she published a poetry anthology, called ''Poems of Death''.

Art historian

In 1954, Pool studied Art History as an external student at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist col ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

. She received a BA in 1957 with first class honours and two years later she obtained her PhD with her thesis on the literary and philosophical background to the early work of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...

. Her supervisor was

Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy. Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...

, who was also a spy for the

. Blunt and Pool wrote a book together, ''Picasso: The Formative Years: a Study of his Sources'' (1962). In 1964 she began lecturing part-time at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. Her book on

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

from 1967 became a popular success. Pool used the library of the

for most of her research. Her writing style was simple, but not simplistic.

Soviet spy

In January 1934

Arnold Deutsch Arnold Deutsch (1903–1942?), variously described as Austrian, Czech or Hungarian, was an academic who worked in London as a Soviet spy, best known for having recruited Kim Philby. Much of his life remains unknown or disputed. Early life He ...

, an

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

agent, was sent to London. Peter Wright, the author of ''

Spycatcher ''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. He drew on his own experiences and research int ...

'' (1987), claims that Deutsch established a spy network based around the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

. This included Phoebe Pool,

Jenifer Hart Jenifer Hart, née Jenifer Margaret Fischer Williams (31 January 1914 – 19 March 2005), was an English academic and Civil service, senior civil servant. At one time she was accused of having been a spy for the Soviet Union, a claim which she ...

Bernard Floud Bernard Francis Castle Floud (22 March 1915 – 10 October 1967) was a British farmer, television company executive and politician. He was the father of the economic historian Sir Roderick Floud. Early life He was born in Epsom, Surrey, the son o ...

and

Goronwy Rees Goronwy Rees (29 November 1909 – 12 December 1979) was a Welsh journalist, academic and writer. Background Rees was born in Aberystwyth, where his father was minister of the Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist Church. The family later moved to ...

. In 1963,

Michael Straight Michael Whitney Straight (September 1, 1916 – January 4, 2004) was an American magazine publisher, novelist, patron of the arts, a member of the prominent Whitney family, and a confessed spy for the KGB. Early life Straight was born in New Yo ...

faced a background check in response to an offer of government employment in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and decided voluntarily to inform family friend and presidential special assistant

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a sp ...

about his communist connections at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

. This led directly to the exposure of Blunt as the recruiter of the

Cambridge Five The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted ...

spy ring, who on 23 April 1964 admitted to

Arthur S. Martin Arthur S. Martin (died 1 February 1996) was a member of the British intelligence community and a primary investigator in the spy scandals in the post-war era. Biography Martin became head of the D1 Section of D Branch (Investigations) of the Se ...

being a Soviet agent and named twelve other associates as spies including Phoebe Pool. Blunt told Martin that Pool had worked as his courier in the 1930s.

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

arranged for

Anita Brookner Anita Brookner (16 July 1928 – 10 March 2016) was an English novelist and art historian. She was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge from 1967 to 1968 and was the first woman to hold this visiting professorship. She w ...

, another member of the Courtauld staff, to interview Pool. Pool confirmed Blunt's story and admitted passing messages with Hart to the Floud brothers from "Otto", identified as Arnold Deutsch. John Costello pointed out in his ''Mask of Treachery'' (1988) that " is suggested that the Cambridge ring had spread its tentacles to Oxford." Phoebe Pool died by suicide in December 1971 by throwing herself under a train.

Selected bibliography

*Pool, Phoebe and Stephenson, Flora. ''Plan for Town and Country.'' London: Pilot Press, 1944. *Pool, Phoebe. ''Poems of Death.'' 1945. *Pool, Phoebe and Blunt, Anthony. ''Picasso: The Formative Years: a Study of his Sources.'' Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1962. *Pool, Phoebe. ''Degas.'' London: Spring Books, 1963. *Pool, Phoebe. ''John Constable.'' Blandford, 1964. *Pool, Phoebe. ''Impressionism.'' New York: Praeger, 1967. *Pool, Phoebe. ''Delacroix.'' London: Hamlyn, 1969. *Pool, Phoebe. ''Paul Gauguin.'' New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1978.

Life

Art historian

Soviet spy

Selected bibliography

References

Further reading