Roger Fry 1900

Alice Boughton made this photographic portrait of Roger Fry sometime in the early 20th century. Fry was an influential figure in the British art world, known for championing modern art and organizing the first Post-Impressionist exhibition in London in 1910. The image itself uses a soft-focus aesthetic typical of pictorialist photography, then in vogue. But beyond its style, it's fascinating to consider what it meant for Fry, an art critic and curator, to be the subject of an artist's gaze. Was Boughton commenting on Fry's own role as a tastemaker, or perhaps subtly critiquing the institutional power he wielded? By researching the correspondence between Boughton and Fry, and examining the reviews of the Post-Impressionist exhibitions, we can gain a richer understanding of the complex social dynamics within the art world at that time. Art, after all, never exists in a vacuum; it is always shaped by the social and institutional forces around it.