oil on board, 35 by 25cm

 

Provenance: The Artist, and thence by family descent; Private Collection, Canada

Exhibited: Canada, Edmonton, Edmonton Art Gallery, Roger Fry, Artist and Critic, 19 March-18 April 1976, no. 22

 

 

Fry travelled to Turkey in 1911 with Clive and Vanessa Bell in what would be a life-changing trip for the artist. As well having a deep impact on his own ideas and techniques in his study of Post Impressionism (in the context of his own highly influential exhibitions at the Grafton Galleries in London) the trip also heightened the intensity of his feelings towards Vanessa Bell. Bell had fallen ill on their arrival in Brusa and a trip of two days became a prolonged period in the area. Frances Spalding describes how Fry "...taking stock of his surroundings, responded immediately to what he saw: Olympus capped with snow, its sides red and purple. The plains below were dotted with pale golden and silver poplars. The town with all its tall minarets and cypresses rising above rooftops..." (Frances Spalding, Roger Fry - Art and Life, Black Dog Books, 1999, p.137). He made numerous studies and oil sketches of the area, like the present work, which were apparently propped up in Vanessa's room for her approval.