Roger Fry

1866-1934. Art critic and painter.

Fry was born in London on 14 December 1866. He attended King's College in Cambridge, where he studied for a Natural Science degree. After university, he then chose the career of an artist. He spent time in London, Paris and Italy. Fry married the artist Helen Coombe in 1896; they had two children (Pamela and Julian).

Fry was not a good painter, but was exceptionally talented in writing criticism and holding lectures. He was mainly interested in Post-Impressionism. He “favoured the expressive arrangement of form over the creation of a realistic illusion” (ODNB 2011). Besides lecturing, Fry also wrote articles on modern art, which were published in magazines such as Monthly Review, The Athenaeum, the Burlington Magazine and others. This way he soon acquired international reputation. Between 1906 and 1910, Fry was curator of paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Fry’s reputation also rests on two influential exhibitions of Post-Impressionist paintings, which he organized at the Grafton Galleries in 1910 and 1912. The exhibitions included works by Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso. By bringing these works to England, Fry hoped to awake public interest in contemporary art.

In 1913, Fry founded the so-called Omega Workshops (art venture), where many famous artists such as Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant took part in. He also was one of the key members of the Bloomsbury Group.

The last years of his life, Fry spent on writing and lecturing, painting and travelling. He also composed his most influential work Vision and Design (1920). Other famous works are Transformations (1926), Cézanne (1927) and Henri Matisse (1930). Fry also made a series of BBC broadcasts (1929-1934).In 1933, he was awarded the Cambridge Slade professorship.

Fry died in London on 9 September 1934.

Sources

Bruneau, Anne-Pascale. “Fry, Roger Eliot (1866–1934)”. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. 20 Dec 2011. <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33285>.

Chilvers, Ian. "Fry, Roger". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 20 Dec 2011.<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-FryRoger.html>.

"Roger Fry". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2011. 20 Dec. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/221169/Roger-Fry>.