Feminist Art Criticism and the Prescriptions of Roger Fry

Abstract

Feminist critics have often blamed modernism for helping to create an art that is paternalistic, homophobic, elitist, Eurocentrist, and antifeminist.l In their haste to react to high modernism, and particularly to the art-critical writings of Clement Greenberg, they have frequently ignored the earlier exponents of modernism in art criticism. The author believes that this has led feminist art critics to overlook the positive aspects of modernism and to accept instead a postmodernism that is ultimately unresponsive to the feminist agenda. When feminists demand inclusion in the art world, they should explore the possibility that this goal might be reached better by following modernist theory and practices than by subscribing to a postmodernist theory that is characterized by an emphasis on the impersonal and possesses a paternalistic and antifeminist avant garde. In particular, the modernist criticism of Roger Fry deserves consideration as it offers prescriptions for feminist art and art criticism that could prove beneficial.