In 1910, Roger Fry organized Manet and the Post-Impressionists exhibition and attempted to introduce to the British public the works of avant-garde French artists following in the footsteps of Cézanne. At that time, Fry intuited that the new tide of art contained the essential property of “expression” and believed that it was the most important element in art. Most previous research has failed to fully understand Fry's usage of “expression” and has tended to disregard it. The purpose of this study is to clarify the concept of “expression” in Fry's work, by referring to preliminary sources such as his original manuscripts, texts for exhibition catalogues, lecture manuscripts, etc. Fry's “expression”, clarified in this paper, is summarized as follows: Fry's “expression”does not refer to any form of self expression by the artist. Instead, Fry places greatest emphasis in determining the “emotional significance”, that is, the expression inherent in every object which can be presented in a work of art through the“structural design”. Only through this “expression” can a work of art arouse in our minds the same emotional state which can be found in real objects. Fry states that this “expression” has been most completely realized in the works of Matisse.

View full abstract

In this paper I approach one aspect of contemporary art, using "memory" and "ecosophie" as keywords. I especially focused on the work of Miroslaw Balka, who was born in Poland in 1958. He began with figurative sculpture, but from around 1990 he changed his style to create metal or wooden objects based on the size of his own body. His works tell us about his life history and make us to remember our own memories. Although they seem to be private, we can feel that their feelings are all common to us. They attain universality by probing deeply into their own experiences. Unlike many avant-garde artists, who always seek to find something new, Balka adds to his works traces of the past. With the relationship between art and culture, the idea 'ecosophy' is broadly proposed to consider how the human spirit should be. We could call Balka's works ecosophycal, being able to dissolve the alienation between nature and culture and producing a passage between art and the environment. They take root in the spiritual landscape of each person and restore mutual confidence in people. They have an active power that can bear the deepest chasm in our heart and its shadow.

View full abstract