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1866 - 1934

Roger Eliot Fry

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A prominent English artist, a famous art critic and theorist, who is considered the author of such a term as post-impressionism, as well as the forerunner of a special kind of British Futurism – Vorticism.

Becoming interested in French art movements, Roger Fry was able to organize an exhibition in London with paintings of several artists from Parisian groups. Despite harsh criticism, the artist repeated such an exposition two years later and thereby helped Post-impressionism and Cubism “to storm” British fine art. The artist depicted the second exhibition; that painting is now included in the collection of the Paris Orsay Museum.

Of great importance for the formation of the British avant-garde was the work of the «Omega Workshops», a design studio organized by Fry, where representatives of the national avant-garde such as W. Bell, W. Lewis, D. Grant, and W. Roberts, began their careers.

Professor and art historian Roger Eliot Fry wrote theoretical works, essays and lectures, which were very popular not only in the UK but also had a significant influence on many artists as well as art historians from around the world. Among the books characterized by the clarity of prose, in which the author demonstrated his brilliant knowledge of history and extraordinary analytical abilities, there is his study of the work of Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse and others.

Key ideas:

– The artist, who initially specialized in realistic landscape painting, discovered the ideas of the Impressionists, the work of Paul Cezanne and the Fauvists during his trip to France. After that, he did not get tired of experimenting with various modern styles, although he never turned to a complete rejection of Realism.

– In portraits, following the British tradition, Fry, under the influence of post-Impressionism, refused from details and strict rules of academism in building a composition.

– Fry paid much attention to the relative position of the figures, their relation to the background – that surrounding space, which he called the cosmos of each work.

– As the initiator of creation and the organizer of classes at the design studio with regular seminars “Omega Workshops”, where future British innovators and avant-garde artists worked, Roger insisted on introducing a synthesis of visual arts, that is, on the use of techniques used in the architectural appearance of objects and interior decoration in painting. The artist dedicated his book “Vision and Design” to this problem.

– According to the figurative expression of the critic, “modernism, which excited the minds of the whole Europe, finally took the British kingdom by storm”, and this happened to a great extent thanks to the efforts of Roger Fry, who put a lot of effort into organizing two significant exhibitions of Post-Impressionists and early Cubists in London.

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1866

1889

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1903

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1913

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1933

1934

1940

Roger Eliot Fry was born

Roger Eliot Fry was born into an old Quaker family, was the fifth of nine children of Judge Sir Edward Fry. He was educated at Clifton College and King’s College, University of Cambridge.

Learned to paint from landscape painter Francis Bate

After graduating from Cambridge University, he moved to London, learned to paint from landscape painter Francis Bate. Fry was interested in the ideas of the works of John Ruskin and political philosophy; this made him meet and communicate with E. Carpenter and B. Shaw. In the initial period of his work, R. Fry specialized in landscape painting.

Made his first trip to Italy and France

Made his first trip to Italy and France, studied art at the private Academie Julian in Paris, discovered Impressionists and Fauvists. During that time, he experimented with various styles. Met scientist Bernard Berenson, whose views he shared. At that time, Fry established himself as a connoisseur of Italian art.

He married artist Helen Coombe

He married artist Helen Coombe; after the birth of their son in 1901 and daughter the next year, her mental health deteriorated, and she spent the rest of her life in an appropriate clinic.

«Burlington»

Participated in the creation of the first UK periodical dedicated to the history of art – magazine «Burlington». Fry was its co-editor for ten years, but his influence on this publication and cooperation with it continued until the death of the artist.

He became the curator of European painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)

At the invitation of billionaire J. Morgan, he became the curator of European painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). He discovered paintings of Cezanne. Fry met the guardian of antiquities at the Boston Museum, M. Prichard, who instilled in him an interest in the oriental art.

Fry's dismissal

Disputes with J. Morgan, a chairman of the Metropolitan Museum of Management, led to Fry’s dismissal from the position of curator of the department at this institution. At London’s Grafton Gallery, he organized a screening of “Mans and Post-Impressionists”, which caused a scandal. Met with artist Vanessa Bell and Clive, her husband, who helped him enter the club of the intellectual English elite “Bloomsbury”.

Fry arranged a second vernissage of Post-impressionist art

Despite criticism, Fry arranged a second vernissage of Post-impressionist art with the support of philanthropist Lady O. Morrell. There, along with English contemporary artists, works of the Fauvists led by Matisse, Picasso and Braque were presented.

He organized the work of the «Omega Workshops» design studio

He organized the work of the «Omega Workshops» design studio, where such artists as Winden Lewis, William Roberts, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell worked with him. The workshop was the center of progressive art until 1921.

«Imagination and Design»

The artist completed his treatise «Imagination and Design», which, together with the book «Transformations» (1926), the essay «Paul Cezanne» (1927), «Henri Matisse» (1930), and the study «French Art» (1932), became study guides for both artists and critics.

«Memoirs of British Painting»

Having abandoned his professorship at Oxford, Fry accepted the offer to take a similar post at Alma Mater – his lectures at Cambridge were extremely popular. The following year, Fry’s book, Memoirs of British Painting, was released.