羅傑‧弗萊，二十世紀初著名的形式主義批評家。主張以「形象直覺」獨立的欣賞藝術品，並創導「純粹的藝術形式」為最高藝術準則。弗萊的美學論述最大的貢獻，在於提供一種純審美的評論，使藝術美擺脫世俗價值的依附性，啟發人們對造形性藝術的正確欣賞態度，有助於將藝術回歸到藝術本身，確立藝術的獨立生命和審美特質，也便於抽象藝術的普及和接受度。但他雖主張把形式獨立於社會內容之外，卻沒法說明何謂「純形式」，而其定義方式又是以審美情感和形式互為定義，以致無法產生明確的審美規範，因此，亦未能解決藝術品的美醜或好壞的判斷問題。

Roger Fry is a well-known formalistic critic in the early 20th century. He advocates for independent "intuitive" appreciation of art and also using "pure artistic form" as the highest artistic standard. The biggest contribution that Fry has for artistic appreciation is providing a puristic appreciation of art which allows art to be independent of "social" value. It also inspires an appropriate attitude to appreciate "image" art and this helps to return art back to art itself. This also ensures the independenceof art and characteristics of appreciation of art. Furthermore, this perspective also make it easier for the dissemenation and acceptance of abstract art. However, although Fry advocates having "image" independent of social content, what "pure image" means was not explained. Also, his way of defining is based on appreciative affection and image which prevent clear cut appreciation standards. Therefore, his perspective cannot solve the problem of how to judge whether an art is beautiful or not and good or bad.