Roger Fry, art and life

by Frances Spalding

Traces the career of the nineteenth-century English art critic and painter, who associated with the Bloomsbury group, Picasso, and Bernard Shaw

Genres: Biography

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Frances Spalding CBE, FRSL (née Crabtree) is a British art historian, writer and a former editor of The Burlington Magazine.

Reviews

[Dianna LeFevre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid on the art and art criticism; however, there were major portions of his life not dealt with at all. Once his wife is committed, she is hardly mentioned, and we get no sense of how he dealt with the emotional consequences of that action. In addition, there is very little here about his relationship with his children, although his daughter is mentioned from time to time. After saying that he was born, the author never mentions Fry's son again. We have no idea of how his children viewed their father or his life's work. So, I left the book feeling I knew quite a bit about Fry the artist and art critic, but not much about Fry the man.

[Ed Crutchley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roger Fry is mostly remembered for introducing post-impressionist art to England and being praised by Kenneth Clark. Unfortunately the design of this Black Dog 1999 paperback edition leaves much to be desired and there are a number of typographical errors and wrong cross-references to illustrations. A lot of the book includes highly esoteric discussions about painting. The account of Fry’s life and family and his relationships with acquaintances and friends is interesting.