The Bloomsbury Invention of Post-Impressionism

In this lecture, given during the covid pandemic as part of the Imperial College London online adult education evening class programme, Dr Michael Paraskos explores how Roger Fry, Clive Bell and the Bloomsbury Group were instrumental in introducing modern art into Britain in the 1910s, but how they also sought to force the public to see modernism primarily as a formalist agenda in art.
They did this, Paraskos suggests, through their criticism but also through the invention of a new word, post-impressionism, which was coined specifically to counter the word expressionism with its connotations of mysticism, spiritualism, idealism and political radicalism.

[@victoriajinivizian1680]

Thank you so much Michael, listening and learning while painting. Your lecture has enhanced my knowledge of the period. My practice is rooted in early twentieth century painting and I thoroughly enjoyed your observations.