Fry, Roger

Fry, Roger

▪ British art critic and painter
in full  Roger Eliot Fry 
born December 14, 1866, London, England
died September 9, 1934, London

      English art critic and artist, best known as the champion of the movement he termed Post-Impressionism.

      Fry was born into a Quaker family and was educated at the University of Cambridge for a career in science. His interest in art grew, however, and he studied painting in Italy and also began to lecture on art. His first book, Giovanni Bellini, was published in 1899. Thereafter he published art criticism, and in 1905 his edition of Joshua Reynolds's Discourses was published.

      Fry first came into contact with the work of the French painter Paul Cézanne (Cézanne, Paul) in 1906, and the experience changed the course of his life. He began to publish articles on the works of Cézanne, Paul Gauguin (Gauguin, Paul), Henri Matisse (Matisse, Henri), and Vincent van Gogh (Gogh, Vincent van), for in these painters he saw a merging of the structural understanding of the classical artists with the colour explorations of the Impressionists (Impressionism). Upon his return to London, Fry became associated with the Bloomsbury group. In November 1910 he organized for the Grafton Galleries the first of two painting exhibitions that were to revolutionize aesthetics in England. The uproar over “Manet and the Post-Impressionists” was considerable; it removed Fry from the ranks of traditional and academic critics and propelled him into the vanguard of art criticism. A second exhibition of a similar nature opened in October 1912.

      In 1913, following a precedent that had been set by William Morris (Morris, William) and the Arts and Crafts Movement, Fry organized a group of young artists into a collective called the Omega Workshops. The goal of the collective was to infuse the innovative aesthetic of Post-Impressionism into the design of everyday functional objects (such as drapery, furniture, and china). The bright colour and ornamental pattern used by these artists marked a fresh departure from the more restrained design of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Omega remained in operation until 1919.

      Fry continued to lecture, travel, and paint throughout his life. His legacy is a body of art criticism and theory that includes Vision and Design (1920), Transformations (1926), Cézanne (1927), Henri Matisse (1930), and several other collections of lectures. He also wrote the Britannica Classic on Paul Cézanne. In 1933 he was appointed Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge.

Additional Reading
Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry, ed. by Diane F. Gillespie (1995, reprinted with corrections; first published 1940); Donald A. Laing, Roger Fry: An Annotated Bibliography of the Published Writings (1979); Frances Spalding, Roger Fry: Art and Life (1980).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Fry, Roger (Eliot) — born Dec. 14, 1866, London, Eng. died Sept. 9, 1934, London British art critic and artist. He gave up a career in science to study art in Italy. As a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1906–10), he discovered the work of the Post… …   Universalium

  • Fry, Roger (Eliot) — (14 dic. 1866, Londres, Inglaterra–9 sep. 1934, Londres). Crítico de arte y artista británico. Abandonó una carrera científica para estudiar arte en Italia. Como curador del Museo Metropolitano de Arte (1906–10), descubrió la obra de los… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Roger Fry — Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English artist and an art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury group. Despite establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, as he matured as a critic he became an… …   Wikipedia

  • Fry (surname) — Fry is the surname of several people:*Abi Fry *Adam Fry (born 1985), British footballer *Adrian Fry (born 1969), British musician *Arthur Fry *Barry Fry *Bertha Fry *Birkett D. Fry *C. B. Fry (1872 1956), British sportsman, politician, writer,… …   Wikipedia

  • Roger Eliot Fry — Selbstporträt Roger Eliot Fry (* 14. Dezember 1866 in London; † 9. September 1934 ebenda) war ein englischer Maler und Kunstkritiker. Außerdem war er Mitglied der berühmten Bloomsbury Group. Fry gilt als wichtiger Vorläufer des Vortizismus. Der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Roger Eliot Fry — noun English painter and art critic (1866 1934) • Syn: ↑Fry, ↑Roger Fry • Instance Hypernyms: ↑painter, ↑art critic • Member Holonyms: ↑Bloomsbury Group …   Useful english dictionary

  • Roger Fry — noun English painter and art critic (1866 1934) • Syn: ↑Fry, ↑Roger Eliot Fry • Instance Hypernyms: ↑painter, ↑art critic • Member Holonyms: ↑Bloomsbury Group …   Useful english dictionary

  • roger — /roj euhr/, interj. 1. Informal. all right; O.K. 2. message received and understood (a response to radio communications). 3. (often cap.) See Jolly Roger. 4. (formerly used in communications to represent the letter R.) [from the name Roger; in… …   Universalium

  • Roger — /roj euhr/, n. a male given name: from Germanic words meaning fame and spear. * * * (as used in expressions) Ascham Roger Bacon Roger Baldwin Roger Nash Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Casement Sir Roger David Clemens William Roger Pierre Roger… …   Universalium

  • Roger — (as used in expressions) Ascham, Roger Bacon, Roger Baldwin, Roger (Nash) Bannister, Sir Roger (Gilbert) Casement, Sir Roger (David) Clemens, (William) Roger Pierre Roger Corman, Roger (William) Cray, Seymour R(oger) Fenton, Roger Fry, Roger… …   Enciclopedia Universal

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