GAUDIER-BRZESKA

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was a French sculptor who moved to London before the first world war. His work demonstrates an interest in reducing detail to simplistic forms, and experimentation in the new language of abstraction. See for example Doves.

He collaborated with Lewis in the Vorticist project, even to the extent of harranguing the Futurists at their occassional appearances at the Lyceum, by standing up and delivering insults throughout the performance.

He lived under a railway arch at Putney, which was also his studio. His Polish girlfriend also lived here, whose name Brzeska, he shared. He enjoyed scandalising polite society, and sometimes referred to his friend as his sister.

Immensely patriotic, he moved back to France soon after war was declared. He was killed on the front in 1915, during heavy fighting at Neuve La Chapelle. His obituary was written in Blast 2 by his friend Lewis. His output, for such a short life, was notable, and the sculptural works he left behind can be regarded as the ultimate high Vorticist three-dimensional style.