A modern art movement started in England in 1913, partly inspired by the Futurists. Leading members included Wyndham Lewis, C R W Nevinson, and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. Two issues were published of a journal, Blast (1914), and an exhibition was held (1915), after which the movement petered out.
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.
Origins
The name "Vorticism" was given to the movement by Ezra Pound in 1913, 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.
Participants
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.
BLAST
The Vorticists had their own journal, BLAST, edited by Lewis.
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. Attempts to revive the movement in the 1920s under the name Group X were unsuccessful.
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.
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