On Thursday 4 June at 2pm, Fiona McKenzie Johnston will discuss her new book, Roger Fry: Bloomsbury and the Invention of Modern Art.
The talk accompanies the current exhibition at Somerset Museum in Taunton, which explores Fry’s remarkable influence on modern British art and design through paintings, textiles, ceramics and furniture.
McKenzie Johnston’s book examines Fry as both critic and creator, tracing how he brought modern French art into Britain through his groundbreaking Post-Impressionist exhibitions, introducing audiences to artists including Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin.
It also explores his central role within the Bloomsbury group and the Omega Workshops, where artists designed textiles, ceramics, wallpaper and furniture anonymously, breaking down traditional distinctions between fine art and craft in ways that still resonate today.
Fry was also the author of the 1920 classic Vision and Design, a collection of essays that helped inspire a generation to understand contemporary art. Radical for its time, the book argued that art should be valued not simply for subject matter or storytelling, but for its form, colour, rhythm and emotional force.
Join us for what promises to be a lively and revealing discussion, with Fiona McKenzie Johnston in conversation with Catherine Milner.
Tickets are £5. The talk lasts approximately one hour.
Make an afternoon of it
Join us for lunch in The Restaurant or enjoy a light lunch in the Pavilion before the talk.