City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2018 Bloomsbury's Byzantium and the Writing of Modern Art Elizabeth Sarah Berkowitz The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2537 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] BLOOMSBURY’S BYZANTIUM AND THE WRITING OF MODERN ART by ELIZABETH SARAH BERKOWITZ A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2018 © 2018 Elizabeth Sarah Berkowitz All Rights Reserved ii Bloomsbury’s Byzantium and the Writing of Modern Art by Elizabeth Sarah Berkowitz This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Art History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _________________ ________________________________________ Rose-Carol Washton Long Date Chair of Examining Committee _________________ ________________________________________ Rachel Kousser Date Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Jennifer Ball Rosemarie Haag Bletter Mark Hussey THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Bloomsbury’s Byzantium and the Writing of Modern Art by Elizabeth Berkowitz Advisor: Rose-Carol Washton Long “Bloomsbury’s Byzantium and the Writing of Modern Art” examines the role of Byzantine art in Bloomsbury art critics Roger Fry’s and Clive Bell’s narratives of aesthetic Modernism. Fry, in his pre-World War I and interwar writings and teachings on art, and Bell, in seminal texts such as Art (1914), have been branded by art historiography as the prime movers in a Formalist, teleological narrative of Modern art still prevalent in textbooks today. Fry’s and Bell’s ideas were later adopted by important Modernist authors and cultural figures, such as Alfred H. Barr, Jr., first director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and critic Clement Greenberg. Yet, less known is the integral role Byzantine art played in delimiting both Fry’s and Bell’s ideas of Modernism, and the art works they valued. Consistent with the international nineteenth- and twentieth-century interest in Byzantium, Fry and Bell each crafted an ahistorical idea of Byzantium. The Bloomsbury critics’ highly subjective definitions of Byzantine art and the Byzantine era allowed both Fry and Bell to project onto Byzantium qualities that aligned with their own intellectual interests. My dissertation uses these varied characterizations of Byzantium to reinterpret both authors’ writings on Modern art and subsequently to challenge canonical understanding of Western aesthetic Modernism. For instance, in my analysis of Fry’s and Bell’s idea of Byzantine art, I point to parallel qualities the critics’ valued in Modern pieces; and suggest that they used their concept of Byzantium to define a more secular, universalized iv spiritual conception of art as an alternative and counterpart to mainstream religions. I also explain how the critics relied on their definition of Byzantium to each advocate for non-Western art’s aesthetic value, and I demonstrate how the authors utilized their characterization of Byzantine art to contest the precedent of both John Ruskin and establishment, Western art history. This dissertation unravels the myriad personal, intellectual, and contextual circumstances which led to Fry’s and Bell’s interpretation of Byzantine art, and, as a result, illustrates how art- world politics and world politics of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries impacted the writing of formative texts in Western Modern art. v To my parents, Dr. Joanna Davis Berkowitz and Dr. Bruce Berkowitz, with love and gratitude. vi Acknowledgements I am indebted to many individuals and many institutions for their help, guidance, and support over the course of this dissertation’s conception, execution, and (finally!) completion. First, I have to thank Professor Rose-Carol Washton Long, my advisor and first reader. This dissertation originated with a paper written for her seminar at the Graduate Center, “Cubism vs. Expressionism.” That seminar assignment became a paper delivered at the 2012 “Byzantium/Modernism” conference at Yale University, and Professor Long was instrumental in ensuring that from abstract to presentation my work left no stone unturned, and no lead dangling. She has provided similar guidance and mentorship over these many years, as that initial seminar work became (many iterations of) a dissertation proposal, a conference paper, and finally, this dissertation. I will forever be grateful to her for teaching me how to be a scholar, for her insight and encyclopedic knowledge of Modernism, for her humanity, for her patience, for her willingness to let my own ideas drive my research, for her ability to help me start over when those ideas sometimes failed, and for her unwavering support, no matter the circumstances. I want to thank Professor Jennifer Ball, my second reader. As a Byzantinist, Professor Ball provided a critical eye from outside my period, as well as a calm, reassuring, and grounded voice during challenging moments in this process. She has been an unflagging support and source of advice on all matters. I credit her with providing clarity necessary for me to formulate and execute this work, and for teaching me how to write persuasively. (Though, I apologize to her for my continued affection for gerunds; dense, run-on sentences; and my abuse of semi- colons!) Thank you to Professor Rosemarie Haag Bletter, who graciously and valiantly stepped in as third reader for my defense, and who provided nothing short of thought-provoking and vii thoughtful comments on my dissertation. Thank you to Professor Mark Hussey, my fourth reader (and, by proxy, thank you to John and Eileen at the Bo-Peep Farmhouse near Charleston for their brilliant networking, telling me during my July 2016 visit about the “Bloomsbury scholar from America who stayed here last weekend, and is working on a biography of Clive Bell”!). Professor Hussey took the time to carefully and insightfully examine every inch of my dissertation. He presented me with questions and ideas that changed the drive of certain passages in this project, and that will undoubtedly enhance any future writings which stem from this dissertation. Prior to his “official role” as fourth reader, Professor Hussey has provided enjoyable conversation, and invaluable information and details about Clive Bell and Bloomsbury. I apologize to him for the paltry address of Bell in this project as opposed to Fry—if anything, I am an example of why his forthcoming Clive Bell biography is needed! Thank you to Dr. Margaret Stenz, whose editing prowess and superior knowledge of Turabian took my notes and bibliography from “hot mess” to legitimate. I want to also extend my thanks to the art history faculty at the Graduate Center, CUNY for their words of wisdom, guidance, and support over the years. Thank you to former Executive Officer Professor Claire Bishop for her insight, time, and advice. Thank you to current Executive Officer Professor Rachel Kousser, who has continued to be an invaluable source of wisdom, support, and kindness. Thank you to former department assistant program officer Andrea Appel, who I hope is enjoying her well-deserved retirement, and who expertly served in her roles as unofficial department psychologist, den mother, guide, and all-around mensch. Thank you to the current department assistant program officer Marilyn Mercado, for all of her help as I completed this process. Thank you to those innumerable friends and colleagues who have listened to me drone on about this dissertation from soup to nuts, and who have provided me with laughter and viii wonderful memories over the years. Thank you in particular to Alison Weaver, and to Professor Keith Moxey, my MA thesis advisor, who each provided encouragement that kept me plugging along. And thank you to all of my friends on the “bat phone” list, who promised to help with school pick up for my older daughter and who kept my husband company while I was abroad doing research. This dissertation could not have been completed without the resources and aid of several sources. Thank you to the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art. The Centre for British Art Research Support Grant allowed me to make my first research trip to Cambridge and London in January 2016. Thank you to Marian Goodman for supporting the Marian Goodman travel grant at the Graduate Center. This grant allowed me to take my second research trip to London and Sussex in July 2016, and to see Bloomsbury art and design “up close and personal.” Thank you to the King’s College Archive Centre and its tireless archivists, the staff and archivists at the Tate Britain, and the curatorial staff at the Victoria and Albert Museum, who graciously gave me time with many items from the Omega Workshops. Thank you to the Trinity College archivists, who generously scanned writings by Clive Bell so they could travel electronically across the pond. Thank you to the staff and archivists at the Archives of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art for helping me with resources for this project. Portions of my dissertation research have been published as an article on the 1910 Manet and the Post-Impressionists exhibition in BRANCH: Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth-Century History, and in a forthcoming review for Art Inquiries on the Museum of Modern Art’s Insecurities exhibition. In the spirit of “it takes a village,” I would be remiss if I didn’t thank some of the most important individuals, whose help with my children has allowed me to finish.