Edward Fry on Barnett Newman, 1979; Documenta 8, 1985-87 Edward Fry, Manfred Schneckenburger October 05-January 11, 2003 Slought Foundation Reception on Friday, October 18, 2002

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Edward Fry was invited to co-curate Documenta 8 with Manfred Schneckenburger in 1985. Documenta 8 opened to the public in 1987. The correspondence between these curators over the course of the two years preceding the exhibition takes the form of this inaugural exhibition at Slought Foundation. The correspondence provides insight into the ways in which this project in particular, and curatorial projects in general, mature. It also provides us with an opportunity to begin to historicize not just art historical but also curatorial practices from the 1970s and 1980s. What were the ramifications for contemporary practice of Fry’s struggle with myth and instrumentality? In what ways did his curatorial focus affect the artistic practices he sought to publicize? This exhibition also features a display of unpublished notes from 1979 analyzing work by Barnett Newman according to numerical analysis and the golden mean. They are believed to have been presented at the University of Pennsylvania in 1979.


Edward Fry (d. 1992), Philadelphia-based art historian and curator, published widely on Cubism and contemporary art. Curator at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, he was fired in 1971 after the cancellation of his Hans Haacke exhibition. He co-curated Documenta 8 with Manfred Schneckenburger in 1987. Teaching positions included Princeton, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Organized by Aaron Levy


MLA Style: Edward Fry, et al. "Edward Fry on Barnett Newman, 1979; Documenta 8, 1985-87." Slought Foundation Online Content. [18 October 2002; Accessed 8 February 2012]. <http://slought.org/content/11088/>.

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