Biographies

Fred Roe (1864 – 1947) Though he signed his paintings “Fred,” he was born Frederick, the son of the painter Robert Henry Roe. Fred painted landscapes, portraits, and military scenes. He drew the ire of Ezra Pound in 1919: “Fred Roe quotes thee lines from somebody’s translation of Villon. He can’t even paint silk stockings up to the Kirchner texture. He adds also the Bishop of London or sentimental moralist element, trying to make the best of both abysms, to lascivise the eye with the scarlet fascinator and sermonise the befuddled soldier all at once” . (NA 25.6:89)