{{Short description|American art historian, curator (1935–1992)}} {{Use dmy dates|date= January 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Edward F. Fry | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Edward Fort Fry | birth_date = {{birth date|1935|05|06}} | birth_place = Ardmore, Pennsylvania | death_date = {{death date and age|1992|04|17|1935|05|06|mf=y}} | death_place = Gladwyne, Pennsylvania | nationality = | spouse = Alexandra (Sandra) Ericson (m. 1985) | education = B.A. Princeton University (1953); M.A. Harvard University (1961); Sorbonne University and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (1961-1963) | awards = Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada (1972) | known_for = art historian, curator, educator }} '''Edward F. Fry''' (May {{nbsp}}06, 1935{{snd}} April{{nbsp}}17, 1992) was a prominent art historian, curator, critic and educator whose specialty was Cubism and art of the late 20th century.<ref name="nyt " >{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Roberta |title=Obituary |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/21/arts/edward-f-fry-56-a-historian-devoted-to-20th-century-art.html |website=www.nytimes.com |publisher=NY Times |access-date=26 January 2025}}</ref> He was a curator at the Guggenheim Museum, New York in 1967 and organized an exhibition of Hans Haacke, which was famously cancelled and resulted in his being fired in 1971.<ref name="hill " >Hill, W. (2020). Revealing Revelation: Hans Haacke’s "All Connected". M/C Journal, 23(4). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1669</ref><ref>Arthur C. Danto. "Art-Hans Haacke:Unfinished Business." ''The Nation'', February 14, 1987.</ref>
He then acted as a curator at large and critic, and taught, co-directing documenta 8 (1986) and helping organize a show for the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1989) as well as consulting on other shows and participating in conferences.<ref name="fonds " /> He taught at several of the Big Three (colleges) in the United States, at the University of Pennsylvania, in Canada and elsewhere.<ref name="nyt " /><ref name="fonds " /> Of the 14 books on art which he authored, co-authored or to which he contributed, his book on Cubism with 13 editions, published in 1966, is best known.<ref name="goodreads " />
== Biography == Fry was born in Ardmore, Pennsylvania and after study at Princeton University (BA, 1953), Harvard (MA, 1961), and in France on a Fulbright Fellowship (1961–1963),<ref name="fonds " /> taught for three years, publishing his book on Cubism in 1966, then in 1967 was hired by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York where he organized late 20th-century exhibitions, such as a retrospective of David Smith.<ref name="nyt " /> His Hans Haacke show, canceled by Thomas Messer in 1971, brought press and art world reaction.<ref>{{cite web |title=Article |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/27/archives/guggenheim-aide-ousted-in-dispute-edward-fry-set-up-a-show-by.html |publisher=NY Times 1971}}</ref><ref>Lawrence Alloway. "Art." ''The Nation'', August 2, 1971.</ref><ref name="fonds " />
After being fired, Fry returned to teaching and worked as a curator at large.<ref name="nyt " /> In 1972-1973 he became a professor and chairman of Visual Arts at York University in Toronto (he resigned in 1973).<ref name="fonds " /> In 1973, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada.<ref name="fonds " /><ref>{{cite web |title=Fellows |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/edward-f-fry |website=www.gf.org |publisher=Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada. |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref>
Among the shows on which he worked is documenta 8 which he co-directed (1986)<ref name="fonds " /><ref>{{cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://slought.org/resources/a_new_modernity |website=slought.org |publisher=Slought |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Article |url=https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/edward-f-fry-57emorial/edward-f-fry-57 |website=paw.princeton.edu |publisher=Paw Princeton |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref> and a show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1989).<ref name="nyt " /> He died of a heart attack in 1992 in Pennsylvania at the age of 56.<ref name="nyt " /> His fonds is at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.<ref name="fonds " >{{cite web |title=Fonds |url=https://findingaids.library.upenn.edu/records/UPENN_RBML_PUSP.MS.COLL.651 |website=findingaids.library.upenn.edu |publisher=U of Penn |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref>
== Controversy == Haacke's ''Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, A Real Time Social System as of May 1, 1971'' (1971), a work intended for the Guggenheim show in 1971, involved New York real estate dealings. Thomas Messer viewed the piece as too political for the museum, cancelled the exhibition and fired Fry who was firm in defending the artist's right to freedom of expression.<ref>{{cite web |title=Article |url=https://pablohelguera.substack.com/p/crossing-the-wealth-line |publisher=Pablo Helguera |access-date=31 January 2025}}</ref><ref name="hill " /><ref name="fonds " />
This controversy inspired later contemporary artists such as Doris Salcedo to dedicate a work evoking the Guggenheim Museum to Hans Haacke and Fry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Works |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/contemporary-art-2/for-hans-haacke-and-edward-fry |website=www.sothebys.com |publisher=Sotheby's |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref>
== Awards and hoours == *1961-1963: Fulbright Fellowship;<ref name="fonds " /> *First president of the New York chapter of the New Art Association, formed at a College Art Association meeting to address art education;<ref>{{cite journal |title=Article |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/775500/stable/775500 |website=www.jstor.org |publisher=JSTOR |jstor=775500 |access-date=29 January 2025}}</ref><ref name="fonds " /> *1972-1973: Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada;<ref name="fonds " /> *1981: UNESCO medal, Paris;<ref name="fonds " />
== Selected publications == Of the 14 art history books which he wrote, co-authored or contributed,<ref name="goodreads " >{{cite web |title=Article |url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/267791.Edward_F_Fry |website=www.goodreads.com |publisher=Goodreads |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref> two have numerous reprints. "Cubism" has been translated into other languages.<ref name="fonds " /> *"Cubism" (1966);<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fry |first1=Edward F. |title=Cubism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dvqAAAAMAAJ |website=www.google.com |date=1966 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |access-date=28 January 2025}}</ref><ref name="goodreads " /> *"David Smith: Painter, Sculptor, Draftsman" (1982);<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fry |first1=Edward F. |title=Davis Smith: Painter, Sculptor, Draftsman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWqrzwEACAAJ |publisher = G. Braziller, New York |date=1982 |isbn=978-0-8076-1057-2 |access-date=28 January 2025}}</ref><ref name="goodreads " /> Fry also wrote features for Art Forum.<ref>{{cite web |title=Articles |url=https://www.artforum.com/author/edward-f-fry |website=/www.artforum.com |publisher=Artforum |access-date=28 January 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Edward F.}} Category:1935 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Art museum people Category:American art curators Category:American art historians Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Academic staff of York University Category:Writers from Philadelphia Category:20th-century American educators Category:20th-century American historians