Vorticism was a London-based modernist art movement formed in 1914 by the writer and artist Wyndham Lewis. The movement was partially inspired by Cubism and was introduced to the public by means of the publication of the Vorticist manifesto in Blast magazine. Familiar forms of representational art were rejected in favour of a geometric style that tended towards a hard-edged abstraction. Lewis proved unable to harness the talents of his disparate group of avant-garde artists; however, for a brief period Vorticism proved to be an exciting intervention and an artistic riposte to Marinetti's Futurism and the post-impressionism of Roger Fry's Omega Workshops.
Sir Jacob Epstein was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1910.
Harold Stanley Ede, also known as Jim Ede, was a British collector of art and friend to artists.
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was a French artist and sculptor who developed a rough-hewn, primitive style of direct carving.
Blast was the short-lived literary magazine of the Vorticist movement in Britain. Two editions were published: the first on 2 July 1914 and featured a bright pink cover, referred to by Ezra Pound as the "great MAGENTA cover'd opusculus"; and the second a year later on 15 July 1915. Both editions were written primarily by Wyndham Lewis. The magazine is emblematic of the modern art movement in England, and recognised as a seminal text of pre-war 20th-century modernism. The magazine originally cost 2/6.
John Rodker was an English writer, modernist poet, and publisher of modernist writers.
Dorothy Shakespear was an English artist. She was the daughter of novelist Olivia Shakespear and the wife of American poet Ezra Pound. One of a small number of women vorticist painters, her art work was published in BLAST, the short-lived but influential literary magazine.
Events from the year 1916 in art.
Events from the year 1914 in art.
Savage Messiah is a 1972 British biographical drama film of the life of French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, made by Russ-Arts and distributed by MGM. It was directed and produced by Ken Russell, with Harry Benn as associate producer, from a screenplay by Christopher Logue, based on the 1931 book Savage Messiah by H. S. Ede. Much of the content of Ede's book came from letters sent between Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and his lover Sophie Brzeska.
Cuthbert Hamilton (1885–1959) was a British artist associated with the Vorticist movement and later with Group X. He was one of the pioneers of abstract art in Britain.
Sophie Suzanne Brzeska or Sophie Gaudier-Brzeska was a Polish writer and artistic muse most noted for being the companion of the artist Henri Gaudier-Brzeska.
Groupe de femmes, also called Groupe de trois femmes, or Groupe de trois personnages, is an early Cubist sculpture created circa 1911 by the Hungarian avant-garde, sculptor, and graphic artist Joseph Csaky (1888–1971). This sculpture formerly known from a black and white photograph had been erroneously entitled Deux Femmes , as the image captured on an angle showed only two figures. An additional photograph found in the Csaky family archives shows a frontal view of the work, revealing three figures rather than two. Csaky's sculpture was exhibited at the 1912 Salon d'Automne, and the 1913 Salon des Indépendants, Paris. A photograph taken of Salle XI in sitiu at the 1912 Salon d'Automne and published in L'Illustration, 12 October 1912, p. 47, shows Groupe de femmes exhibited alongside the works of Jean Metzinger, František Kupka, Francis Picabia, Amedeo Modigliani and Henri Le Fauconnier.
Kate Elizabeth Lechmere was a British painter who with Wyndham Lewis was the co-founder of the Rebel Art Centre in 1914. As far as is known, none of Lechmere's paintings have survived. She served as a nurse in England during the First World War and had a three-year relationship with the poet and critic T.E. Hulme before he was killed. After the war she became a successful milliner.
Ethel (Dolly) Kibblewhite (1873–1947) was the host of an important artistic and literary salon in London in the 1910s. The salon was held at her home at 67 Frith Street and presided over by the poet and critic T.E. Hulme.
Horace Ascher Brodzky was an Australian-born artist and writer most of whose work was created in London and New York. His work included paintings, drawings and linocuts, of which he was an early pioneer. An associate in his early career of many leading artists working in Britain of his period, including Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Mark Gertler, and members of the Vorticism movement, he ended his life relatively neglected.
Claude Minière is an essayist and poet. Initially, he took part in various avant-garde activities before turning towards a more solitary, more classical approach to writing, never forgetting, however, the conquests of Rimbaud, Ezra Pound and free-verse.
The Vorticists at the Restaurant de la Tour Eiffel, Spring 1915 is a 1961–1962 painting by the English artist William Roberts. It depicts the Vorticist group gathered at a French restaurant in London.
The Vienna Café was a coffee house and restaurant at 24–28 New Oxford Street, London. Located opposite Mudie's Lending Library and near the British Museum Reading Room in Bloomsbury, it became known in the early 20th century as a meeting place for writers, artists, and intellectuals. Regular visitors included Ezra Pound, H. G. Wells, and W. B. Yeats.
Evelyn Ann Silber is an English art historian and an acknowledged specialist on 20th century British sculpture. She is an honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow and is researching the marketing of modernist art in early 20th century London and the role played by dealers. Having moved to Glasgow in 2001 to assume the role of Director of the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Silber continues to be based there and is an advocate for Glasgow’s cultural heritage, the conservation of the city, and its tourist industry. She is currently the Chair of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel.
