The New York herald., 1921-09-04
VISION AND DESIGN. BY Roger Fry
Rrepfano'a


Brentano's.
TO living man. II seems to me.
I'M certainly no one whom ] have
met, has a keener sympathy
with the spirit of our times than
Roger Fry. His sympathy for the sue
cessive movements which have marked
the recent evolution of art and of liter
ature has been so keen that it has
seriously interfered with his develop
ment as a creative artist.
This ready sympathy, this tolerance,
is characteristic of the Fry family and
indeed of almost all who are descended
from old Quaker stock. Elizabeth Fry,
Roger Fry's great aunt was the well
known pioneer in prison reform. His
father, Sir Edward Fry, was England's
counsel in the Dogger Bank contro
versy and was so successful that Par
lament voted him ten thousand
pounds Unlike the various Generals
who have SO been honored. Sir Edward
declined to accept any honorarium be-
yond the sum for which he had been
hired.
Roger Fry has the characteristics Of
his family. He Is tolerant; he has
broad sympathies. That was shown
again and again during his stay In
America, when he was curator of
paintings at the Metropolitan Museum
Of Art. He was ever curious about
America and the Americans. 1t was
amazing how much he learned about
us in relatively short time. With
out the prejudices of the native Ameri-
can, he was quite as ready to learn
from the parvenu as from the man
with a long line of illustrious ances-
tors Indeed, he thought that many
Americans with illustrious ancestors
were frightful bores. Sir Purdon
Clarke frequently was much worried
lest Fry should express himself too
freely about certain of the trustees.
Roger Fry was at times irrepressible,
and Sir Purdon had reason to worry.
"Vision and Design" contains a So
lection from Roger Fry's writings on
art. One OF the earliest is an article
on Giotto, published in the Monthly
ReUtetc in 1901. In 1t we find but in
rudimentary form the aesthetic prin-
ciples which Fry later set forth In
IAN Essay in Esthetics" (1909) and
"The Artists Vision" (1919). The au-
thor has facilitated our comprehension
of the evolution of his thought through
copious notes in which he points ont
the development of his conception of
art. The volume is well illustrated
For centuries man created works of
art and never questioned himself as
to what pushed him on to create them.
The desire to create has apparently
ever been instructive. We live in an
age dominated by spirit which seems
materialistic. 1t is spirit which ha5
little sympathy with whatever is not
prominently useful or capable Of giv-
ing sensual pleasure. A materialistic
age is usually much interested In scien-
tific research. Man begins to want to
understand the processes which bring
about certain results. The creation of
art must be explained. It's usefulness
must be proven. Unless it's usefulness
can be shown we shall shortly have a
movement for the suppression of art.
Roger Fry, with his extraordinarily
broad sympathies, with his natural
curiosity q am sure he took his first
toy locomotive apart the day 1t vas
given to him to find out how II was
made) could not but be interested in
the motive force back of art creation.
Fry is an artist, an eclectic, too self
conscious to ever let himself go n
tirely, sufficiently instructive, however,
to be fully aware of the part which
instinct plays in the creation OF a
work OF art.
THAT the graphic arts" he writes.
"are the expression of the imaginative
life rather than copy of actual life
might be guessed from observing chill
dren. Children. II left to themselves,
never, ! believe, copy what they zee,
never, as we say. draw from nature
but express, with delightful freedom
and sincerity, the mental images
which make up their own imagina-
tive lives" Il
From the observation Of children
Fry shows that, with them at least.
art instinctively arises from a desire
to express the imaginative life, MT
from a desire to initiate with pigments
the lights and shades Of the varioas
objects we see.
II then art is not the imitation
OF things seen, what is It?
Let us follow Fry in his efforts TO
solve. the problem Can Essay In Aes-
thetlcA):
II must begin with some elementary
psychology, with a consideration OF
the nature of instincts. A great many
objects in the world, when presented
to our senses. put in motion a complex
nervous machinery. which ends in
some instructive appropriate action.
We see wild bull In a field; quito
without our conscious interference
nervous process goes on, which, unlcsy
we interfere forcibly, ends In the APP
propriate reaction Of flight The nerv.
ous mechanism which results in flight
causes a certain state Of consciousness,
which we call the emotion OF fear. The
whole Of animal life, and great pa-'
Of human life, Is made up of these
instructive reactions to sensible oh
jects and their accompanying emo
tions. But man has the peculiar