Wyndham Lewis

Vorticism was a short lived British art movement of the early 20th century. It is considered to be the only significant British movement of the early twentieth century but lasted less than three years^{[citation needed]}. Public domain photo of Wyndam Lewis in 1916 from http://www. ... Public domain photo of Wyndam Lewis in 1916 from http://www. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

Origins

Ezra Pound, who gave Vorticism its name and contributed to BLAST.

The name "Vorticism" was given to the movement by Ezra Pound in 1913^{[citation needed]}, although Wyndham Lewis, usually seen as the central figure in the movement, had been producing paintings in the same style for a year or so previously[1]. The style grew out of Cubism, but is more closely related to Futurism in its embrace of dynamism, the machine age and all things modern (compare Cubo-Futurism). However, Vorticism diverged from Futurism in the way that it tried to capture movement in an image. In a Vorticist painting modern life is shown as an array of bold lines and harsh colours drawing the viewer's eye into the centre of the canvas. Ezra pound in 1913 from http://www. ... Ezra pound in 1913 from http://www. ... Ezra Pound in 1913. ... Wyndham Lewis in 1916 Percy Wyndham Lewis (November 18, 1882 – March 7, 1957) was a Canadian born British painter and author. ... It has been suggested that Analytic cubism, Synthetic cubism be merged into this article or section. ... Umberto Boccioni - Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. ... Cubo-Futurism was a variation of Cubism that developed in Russia in 1913. ...

Participants

William Roberts' The Vorticists at the Restaurant de la Tour Eiffel: Spring, 1915 Seated left to right: Cuthbert Hamilton, Ezra Pound, William Roberts, Wyndham Lewis, Frederick Etchells and Edward Wadsworth. Standing in the doorway are Jessica Dismorr and Helen Saunders

Other than Lewis, the main figures associated with the movement were William Roberts, Edward Wadsworth, David Bomberg, Frederick Etchells, Cuthbert Hamilton, Lawrence Atkinson, CRW Nevinson, and the sculptors Jacob Epstein and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. There were two female artists, Jessica Dismorr, and Helen Saunders associated who were described at the time as vorticists; it has been argued that due to the sexism of the art world at the time, these artists have not had their critical due. Image File history File links Vorticists. ... Image File history File links Vorticists. ... William Roberts was a British painter, born in London in 1895. ... British artist born 1889, died 1949. ... David Bomberg (December 5, 1890 – August 19, 1957) was a British painter. ... Frederick Etchells (1886 - 1973) was a British artist. ... Lawrence Atkinson (1873–1931) was a British artist, musician and poet. ... British Artist born 1889 died 1946. ... Jacob Epstein photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 19 August 1959) was an American-born Jewish sculptor who worked chiefly in the UK, where he pioneered modern sculpture, often producing controversial works that challenged taboos concerning what public artworks appropriately depict. ... Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (4 October 1891 – 5 June 1915) was a French sculptor who developed a rough hewn, primitive style of direct carving. ... British artist born 1885 died 1939. ... Helen Saunders (1885–1963) was a British artist. ...

BLAST

The cover of the 1915 BLAST wartime number.

The Vorticists had their own journal, BLAST, edited by Lewis. It published work by Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot as well as by the vorticists themselves. Its typographical adventurousness was cited by El Lissitzky as one of the major forerunners of the revolution in graphic design in the 1920s and 1930s. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x760, 158 KB)The cover of the second (and last) edition of BLAST, by Wyndham Lewis and friends. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x760, 158 KB)The cover of the second (and last) edition of BLAST, by Wyndham Lewis and friends. ... The cover of the first edition of BLAST was bold and shocking to its potential readership in 1914. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888–January 4, 1965) was a poet, dramatist and literary critic, whose works, such as The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, and Four Quartets, are considered major achievements of twentieth century Modernist poetry. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...   (Лазарь Маркович Лисицкий, November 23, 1890 – December 30, 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (Эль Лисицкий), was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, teacher, typographer, and architect. ... Saul Basss poster for the film The Man with the Golden Arm - a highly regarded work of graphic design. ...

Demise and legacy

The Vorticists had only one exhibition, in 1915 at the Doré Gallery. Following that, the movement broke up, largely due to the onset of World War I and public apathy towards the work. Gaudier-Brzeska was killed in military service while leading figures such as Epstein distanced themselves stylistically from Lewis. Attempts to revive the movement in the 1920s under the name Group X were unsuccessful. Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ...

Although Lewis is generally seen as the central figure in the movement, it has been suggested that this was more due to his contacts and ability as a self-publicist and polemicist than the quality of his works necessarily. A 1956 exhibition at the Tate Gallery was called "Wyndham Lewis and the Vorticists", highlighting his prominent place in the movement, although this angered some other members of the group. Both Bomberg and Roberts protested strongly over Lewis' assertion in the exhibition catalogue that "Vorticism, in fact, was what I, personally, did, and said, at a certain period." The Tate Gallery in the United Kingdom is a network of four galleries: Tate Britain (opened 1897), Tate Liverpool (1988), Tate St Ives (1993), Tate Modern (2000), with a complementary website Tate Online (1998). ...

External links

• Workshop, a Vorticist painting circa 1914-5 by Wyndham Lewis
• www.vorticism.co.uk, information about Vorticism