The paintings of Roger Fry.

This thesis traces the development of Roger Fry's career as a painter beginning with his scientific training at Cambridge when he came into contact with ideas that later affected his attitude to art and aesthetics. On leaving Cambridge he trains as a painter under Francis Bate and in 1891 begins to exhibit at the New English Art Club.His earliest paintings are seen to reflect the influence of Whistler and the London Impressionists, but dissatisfaction with the naturalism of the N.E.A.C. painters and the decorative nature of Whistler's art leads him to search for an underlying sense of structural design.Following visits to Italy Fry begins to lecture on the Old Masters, establishes a reputation as a scholar of Italian art, and becomes art critic for the Athenaeum. From thenon his writings and activities as exhibition organizer are referred to when they throw light on his development as a painter.The explosion of Post-Impressionism in London, due to the two exhibitions organized by Roger Fry in 1910 and 1912, is seen to mark a turning point in his career, His paintings become daringly experimental and during 1911 he can be regarded as one of the most avant-garde artists working in Britain. His pictorial experiments do not however, lead to a coherent, personal style until during the war, when, relatively cut off from France and encouraged by activities at the Omega Workshops, a mature style emerges.In the early 1920's Fry's career as a painter is seen to partake in a general retrogression back to a more purely representational style.The influence of France is renewed and annual visits enable Fry to develop his love of the French landscape, particularly that of Provence. This subject matter dominates his painting during the last part of his career and reveals an evocative response to the sense of place. With the appearance of Helen Anrep in his life during the mid 'twenties, a new relaxation and lyricism enters his art and is combined with the development of an almost impressionist technique. His career as a whole is seen to confirm his attempt to rediscover the classical spirit in modern art.