The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (178 page)
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Frost , Terry
(1915– ).
British painter, one of the leading
St Ives
painters. He started painting in 1943 when a prisoner of war encouraged by Adrian
Heath
, then studied at St Ives and under
Coldstream
and
Pasmore
at the Camberwell School of Art, 1947–50. He began painting in the sober, naturalistic tradition of the
Euston Road School
, but he soon turned to abstraction, and in the 1950s he created screens of brightly striped colours; more recently he has used circles and ovals in high-pitched and saturated colours, often juxtaposing segments of closely related colour. Characteristically he draws on and transposes direct visual experiences of landscape, boats in harbour, and the human figure. His main period of residence at St Ives was 1959–63. He has taught at various art schools, notably at Reading University, 1965–81.
British painter, one of the leading
St Ives
painters. He started painting in 1943 when a prisoner of war encouraged by Adrian
Heath
, then studied at St Ives and under
Coldstream
and
Pasmore
at the Camberwell School of Art, 1947–50. He began painting in the sober, naturalistic tradition of the
Euston Road School
, but he soon turned to abstraction, and in the 1950s he created screens of brightly striped colours; more recently he has used circles and ovals in high-pitched and saturated colours, often juxtaposing segments of closely related colour. Characteristically he draws on and transposes direct visual experiences of landscape, boats in harbour, and the human figure. His main period of residence at St Ives was 1959–63. He has taught at various art schools, notably at Reading University, 1965–81.
frottage
(French: ‘rubbing’). A technique of creating a design by placing a piece of paper over some rough substance such as grained wood or sacking and rubbing with a crayon or pencil until it acquires the surface quality of the substance beneath. The resulting design is usually taken as a stimulus to the imagination, the point of departure for a painting which expresses imagery of the subconscious. Max
Ernst
pioneered the technique and it was much used by other
Surrealists
.
Ernst
pioneered the technique and it was much used by other
Surrealists
.
Fry , Roger
(1866–1934).
English critic, painter, and designer. He took a first-class degree in natural sciences at Cambridge in 1888, but was already more interested in art, and in the 1890s he built up a reputation as a writer and lecturer (and a much more modest one as a painter). His success as a public speaker depended partly on his mellifluous voice; George Bernard Shaw said it was one of only two he knew that were worth listening to for its own sake—the other was that of the actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson . He was Curator of Paintings at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
, New York, 1906–10, but in the year he took up this appointment he ‘discovered’
Cézanne
and turned his attention away from the Italian Old Masters, with whom he had established his scholarly reputation, to become his period's most eloquent champion of modern French painting. After returning to London in 1910 he organized two exhibitions of
Post-Impressionist
painting at the Grafton Galleries (1910 and 1912) that are regarded as milestones in the history of British taste. They attracted an enormous amount of publicity, most of it unfavourable, and many people thought that Fry was a charlatan or possibly even insane. Certain young artists were immensely impressed by the exhibitions, however, and Fry became an influential figure among them. They included Vanessa
Bell
and Duncan
Grant
, both of whom worked for the
Omega Workshops
, which Fry founded in 1913. He kept up a steady output of writing and lecturing (at the time of his death he was Slade Professor at Cambridge University) and probably did more than anyone else to awaken public interest and understanding of modern art in England. Kenneth
Clark
called him ‘incomparably the greatest influence on taste since
Ruskin
’ and said: ‘In so far as taste can be changed by one man, it was changed by Roger Fry .’ His books include monographs on
Bellini
(1899), Cézanne (1927), and
Matisse
(1930), an edition of
Reynolds's
Discourses
(1905), and several collections of lectures and essays. As a painter Fry was experimental (his work includes a few abstracts), but his best pictures are fairly straightforward naturalistic portraits; his sitters included several of his
Bloomsbury Group
friends.
English critic, painter, and designer. He took a first-class degree in natural sciences at Cambridge in 1888, but was already more interested in art, and in the 1890s he built up a reputation as a writer and lecturer (and a much more modest one as a painter). His success as a public speaker depended partly on his mellifluous voice; George Bernard Shaw said it was one of only two he knew that were worth listening to for its own sake—the other was that of the actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson . He was Curator of Paintings at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
, New York, 1906–10, but in the year he took up this appointment he ‘discovered’
Cézanne
and turned his attention away from the Italian Old Masters, with whom he had established his scholarly reputation, to become his period's most eloquent champion of modern French painting. After returning to London in 1910 he organized two exhibitions of
Post-Impressionist
painting at the Grafton Galleries (1910 and 1912) that are regarded as milestones in the history of British taste. They attracted an enormous amount of publicity, most of it unfavourable, and many people thought that Fry was a charlatan or possibly even insane. Certain young artists were immensely impressed by the exhibitions, however, and Fry became an influential figure among them. They included Vanessa
Bell
and Duncan
Grant
, both of whom worked for the
Omega Workshops
, which Fry founded in 1913. He kept up a steady output of writing and lecturing (at the time of his death he was Slade Professor at Cambridge University) and probably did more than anyone else to awaken public interest and understanding of modern art in England. Kenneth
Clark
called him ‘incomparably the greatest influence on taste since
Ruskin
’ and said: ‘In so far as taste can be changed by one man, it was changed by Roger Fry .’ His books include monographs on
Bellini
(1899), Cézanne (1927), and
Matisse
(1930), an edition of
Reynolds's
Discourses
(1905), and several collections of lectures and essays. As a painter Fry was experimental (his work includes a few abstracts), but his best pictures are fairly straightforward naturalistic portraits; his sitters included several of his
Bloomsbury Group
friends.
Fuchs , Ernst
.
.
Fuller , Isaac
(
c.
1606–72).
English decorative and portrait painter. He studied in France with F.
Perrier
then worked in Oxford and London. Fuller painted altarpieces for Oxford colleges (that in All Souls was described by the diarist John Evelyn in 1644 as ‘too full of nakeds for a chapel’) and did decorative painting for taverns in London, including mythological scenes for the Mitre Tavern, Fenchurch Street, but these works have disappeared. His largest surviving works are five canvases each about 3m. wide, showing Charles II's escape after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 (NPG, London). Otherwise, Fuller is remembered for his highly idiosyncratic portraits. He was a notorious drunkard and his self-portraits (NPG, and Bodleian Lib., Oxford) are painted with a bravura worthy of a larger-than-life character.
c.
1606–72).
English decorative and portrait painter. He studied in France with F.
Perrier
then worked in Oxford and London. Fuller painted altarpieces for Oxford colleges (that in All Souls was described by the diarist John Evelyn in 1644 as ‘too full of nakeds for a chapel’) and did decorative painting for taverns in London, including mythological scenes for the Mitre Tavern, Fenchurch Street, but these works have disappeared. His largest surviving works are five canvases each about 3m. wide, showing Charles II's escape after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 (NPG, London). Otherwise, Fuller is remembered for his highly idiosyncratic portraits. He was a notorious drunkard and his self-portraits (NPG, and Bodleian Lib., Oxford) are painted with a bravura worthy of a larger-than-life character.
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