# Phoebe Pool

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{{short description|Art historian and spy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Phoebe Pool
| image         = 
| alt           =
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = 1913
| birth_place   = [London](/source/London), United Kingdom
| death_date    = December 1971
| death_place   = 
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = Art historian, Soviet spy
| years_active  = 
| known_for     = 
| notable_works = ''Impressionism'' (1967)
| spouse        = 
| mother        = Agatha Eleanor Burrows
| father        = Gordon Desmond Pool
| children      = 
| relatives     = 
| alma_mater    = [Somerville College, Oxford](/source/Somerville_College%2C_Oxford)
}}
'''Phoebe Pool''' (1913–1971) was a British art historian and spy for the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union).

== Life ==
Pool was born in [London](/source/London) in 1913, the daughter of Gordon Desmond Pool and Agatha Eleanor Burrows. She was diagnosed with [depression](/source/Major_depressive_disorder) at an early age.<ref name=dah>{{cite web|url=https://arthistorians.info/poolp|title=Pool, Phoebe|publisher=[Dictionary of Art Historians](/source/Dictionary_of_Art_Historians)|access-date=1 September 2020}}</ref><ref name=sparta>{{cite web|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/Phoebe_Pool.htm|title=Phoebe Pool|publisher=[Spartacus Educational](/source/Spartacus_Educational)|access-date=1 September 2020}}</ref>

In 1931 Pool won a scholarship to [Somerville College, Oxford](/source/Somerville_College%2C_Oxford), entering in 1932 to study history.<ref name=dah /> 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](/source/Workers'_Educational_Association) (WEA) before working at Westminster Tutors, [London](/source/London), from 1942. She also wrote reviews for ''[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)''. During the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) she worked for [Air Raid Precautions](/source/Air_Raid_Precautions_in_the_United_Kingdom). In 1945 she published a poetry anthology, called ''Poems of Death''.<ref name=dah /><ref name=sparta />

=== Art historian ===
In 1954, Pool studied Art History as an external student at the [Courtauld Institute of Art](/source/Courtauld_Institute_of_Art), [University of London](/source/University_of_London). 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](/source/Pablo_Picasso). Her supervisor was [Anthony Blunt](/source/Anthony_Blunt), who was also a spy for the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union). Blunt and Pool wrote a book together, ''Picasso: The Formative Years: a Study of his Sources'' (1962).<ref name=dah /><ref name=sparta />

In 1964 she began lecturing part-time at the [University of Reading](/source/University_of_Reading). Her book on [Impressionism](/source/Impressionism) from 1967 became a popular success. Pool used the library of the [Courtauld Institute of Art](/source/Courtauld_Institute_of_Art) for most of her research.<ref name=sparta /><ref name=dah /> Her writing style was simple, but not simplistic.<ref name=dah />

=== Soviet spy ===
In January 1934 [Arnold Deutsch](/source/Arnold_Deutsch), an [NKVD](/source/NKVD) agent, was sent to London. [Peter Wright](/source/Peter_Wright_(MI5_officer)), the author of ''[Spycatcher](/source/Spycatcher)'' (1987), claims that Deutsch established a spy network based around the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford). This included Phoebe Pool, [Jenifer Hart](/source/Jenifer_Hart), [Bernard Floud](/source/Bernard_Floud) and [Goronwy Rees](/source/Goronwy_Rees).

In 1963, [Michael Straight](/source/Michael_Straight) faced a background check in response to an offer of government employment in [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.), and decided voluntarily to inform family friend and [presidential](/source/president_of_the_United_States) special assistant [Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.](/source/Arthur_M._Schlesinger%2C_Jr.) about his communist connections at [Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge). This led directly to the exposure of Blunt as the recruiter of the [Cambridge Five](/source/Cambridge_Spy_Ring) spy ring, who on 23 April 1964 admitted to [Arthur S. Martin](/source/Arthur_S._Martin) 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](/source/MI5) arranged for [Anita Brookner](/source/Anita_Brookner), another member of the Courtauld staff, to interview Pool.<ref name=sparta /> Pool confirmed Blunt's story and admitted passing messages with Hart to the Floud brothers from "Otto", identified as Arnold Deutsch.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6276267.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515131204/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6276267.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 May 2009|title=Civil servant Arthur Wynn revealed as recruiter of Oxford spies|last1=Macintyre|first1=Ben|last2=Bird|first2=Steve|work=The Times|date=13 May 2009|accessdate=1 September 2020 | location=London}}</ref> [John Costello](/source/John_Costello_(historian)) pointed out in his ''Mask of Treachery'' (1988) that "[t]his suggested that the Cambridge ring had spread its tentacles to Oxford."<ref name=sparta />

Phoebe Pool died by suicide in December 1971 by [throwing herself under a train](/source/rail_suicide).<ref name=dah /><ref name=sparta />

== 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.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*Blunt, Anthony. "Phoebe Pool." ''Burlington Magazine'' 114, no. 828 (March 1972): 177.
*"Miss Phoebe Pool." ''The Times'' (London) 28 December 1971, p.&nbsp;8.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pool, Phoebe}}
Category:1913 births
Category:1971 deaths
Category:20th-century English women
Category:20th-century English people
Category:Academics from London
Category:Academics of the Courtauld Institute of Art
Category:Academics of the University of Reading
Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford
Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art
Category:British spies for the Soviet Union
Category:British women historians
Category:English art historians
Category:Women art historians
Category:Workers' Educational Association
Category:1971 suicides
Category:Suicides by train
Category:Suicides in the United Kingdom

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Phoebe Pool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_Pool) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_Pool?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.