Introduction

"In a Vorticist Universe we don't get excited at what we have invented. If we did it would look as though it had been a fluke."
Vorticist Manifesto III, Blast 1 page 148.

"Really all this organised disturbance was Art behaving as if it were Politics. But I swear I did not know it. It may in fact have been politics. I see that now. Indeed it must have been."
Wyndham Lewis, Blasting & Bombardiering page 32.

"Of all the radical art movements which sprang up throughout Europe during the first two decades of this century [sic], Vorticism is perhaps the least able to furnish itself with the identity it deserves. "
Richard Cork, Vorticism and its Allies page 5.

"So propitious a beginning, one which seems to have been on the verge of giving Britian not only a truly modern British art but one which could have held its own with contintental work, as that of no previous artist or group of artists had yet been able to do, was abruptly halted by the outbreak of War."
George Heard Hamilton, Painting and Sculpture in Europe 1880-1940, page 292-3.

The above quotations show how difficult it is to derive any sense of what Vorticism was about. Vorticism as a label doesn't help. It's essentially a new, made up name for something that hasn't yet been defined. I hope to now give you a clearer idea of what Vorticism is, and why it came about. I will keep away from the aesthetics and philosophy of the movement, as these have no place in an introduction. Here I focus on the mechanics of the movement itself.

The Vorticists were a group of London artists that decided to work closely together in 1914 to better promote the avant-garde style that they had formulated. The label "Vortisim" was coined by Ezra Pound in early 1914, and the group were together in London until August 1914, which is when the First World War broke out.

Blast was the groups' manifesto. It was edited by Wyndham Lewis and was produced as a large "Puce Monster" that had 'BLAST' printed diagonally on the outside. Inside, amongst many articles and illustrations of their art, was a series of pages where the group either 'blasted' or 'blessed' people and institutions. It was an idea copied from the Futurist group who was also trying to make a name for itself using similar methods at this time in London and Italy. Blast was an enormous hit in Britain, and the publicity that the Vorticist group required was suddenly attained.

The Vorticists created a new aesthetique virtually overnight (let us remember they only existed as a group for six months) and their industrious output caused their art to be seen in many places. Meanwhile they declared war on the Futurists, were involved in supporting women in their fight for universal suffrage, and were busy developing new ideas in sculpture.

The curiosity of newspaper editors and the public in general made Vorticist painters the first 20th century British Art celebrities. They were loathed and loved by the public much like a modern day Turner Prize winner. For a few months, the idea of abstract art painted by a half-crazed bohemian prophet gripped the imagination of the public. Newspapers had cartoons with artists in them; they were reported in the popular press more often than ever before, and the ideas behind art started being considered by ever greater numbers than ever before.

That other big activity of 1914, War, effectively killed the Vorticist movement. Although Vorticism had its own exhibitions in wartime, in 1915 in London (and another in New York in 1917) these were almost formalities. After the War, Vorticism struggled, and it seems now that a general embarrassment of its prewar exuberance led to its exponents to abandon the hard sell of Vorticism, and more unfortunately, some of its artistic achievements.

However, almost ten decades later, we can begin to see how much Vorticism achieved in its few months' existence. It was an important, internationally known art movement, which laid the foundations of Modernist Art.

Vorticism produced the first British abstracts.

Vorticism was the first multi-media art movement in Britain, using pictorial art, sculpture and the printed word.

Vorticist artists saw themselves as revolutionary educationalists as much as artists, teaching the public a new graphic language that spoke of the Modern Age.

Last updated 16th October 2009.