Vorticism - Demise and Legacy

Demise and Legacy

Paintings and sculpture shown at the Rebel Art Centre in 1914, before the formation of the Vorticist Group was experimental work by Lewis, Wadsworth, Shakespear and others, using angular simplification and abstraction. This work was contemporary with and comparable to abstraction by European artists such as Kandinski, František Kupka and the Russian Rayist Group. The Vorticists held only one exhibition, in 1915 at the Doré Gallery, in London. The main section of the exhibition included work by Jessica Dismorr, Frederick Etchells, Lewis, Gaudier-Brzeska, William Roberts, Helen Saunders and Edward Wadsworth. There was a smaller section area titled ‘Those Invited To Show’ that included several other artists. Jacob Epstein was notably not represented, although did have his drawings reproduced in 'Blast!'.

After this, 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. A brief attempt by Lewis to revive the movement in 1920 under the name Group X proved unsuccessful. Pound, however, through his correspondence with Lewis, was understood to hold a commitment to the goals of the movement as much as forty years after its demise.

While 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. A 1956 exhibition at the Tate Gallery was called Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism, highlighting his prominent place in the movement. This angered other members of the group. Bomberg and Roberts (who published a series of "Vortex Pamphlets" on the matter) both protested strongly the assertion of Lewis, which was printed in the exhibition catalogue: "Vorticism, in fact, was what I, personally, did, and said, at a certain period." The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University held an exhibition entitled The Vorticists: Rebel Artists in London and New York, 1914-18 from September 30, 2010 through January 2, 2011. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice) held an exhibition entitled: The Vorticists: Rebel Artists in London and New York 1914–18 between January 29 and May 15, 2011. Tate Britain held an exhibition entitled The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World, between the 14th of June and the 4th of September 2011.