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.
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