The Critic’s Practice: A Study Of Roger Fry’s Art Cirticism

What and how do we talk about works of art? What kind of criticism, ofcommentary on the arts, is desirable? What would criticism look like that would servethe work of art, not usurp its place? This dissertation attempts to answer thesequestions by investigating art critic’s work, which Roger Fry has been chosen for casestudy. As a critic, painter, exhibition organizer and arbiter of taste, Roger Fry speakswith an authoritative voice both on theory and on particular works and movements,furthermore, it is him who led the transformation of art criticism from ‘ekphrasis’ toformalism, which is regarded as the closest way to approach a work of art.In this thesis, I will discuss how Fry looks upon art, what he finds in works of art,and how he tells us the thing that he observed. Meanwhile, I will examine thecontemporary thoughts of the days when Fry lived. At the turn of nineteenth centuryand twentieth century, many great scholars choose ‘form’ as the methodology tolegitimize the art history. It is in this trend, Fry takes form as the core concept and themain analysis approach, to interpret works of art, to defend post-impressionism, andto reverse the prejudice and the overlook of the public opinion to the modern art.This thesis is divided into five parts. The introduction describes the backgroundand the purpose of this study. First chapter introduces the art criticism before Fry andthe efforts that the art history makes itself to be not only an independent disciplineand also a kind of science. Second chapter shows Fry’s career as a critic through histhree important works. Third chapter discusses three set of issues:“the Classical spiritvs. Modernism”,“the actual life vs. imaginative life” and “art vs. science”, attempts torestore a real and rich connotation Fry. Fourth chapter summarizes Fry’s thoughts ofthe formalism, and reviews his impacts and conflictions. The concluding chapterreflects on the limitations of art criticism, especially the difficulties of ‘interpretingthe images by words’ and criterions of art criticism.