BLAST!1914 and 1915, Wyndham Lewis, ed.

Percival Wyndham Lewis1882-1957

the men of 1914

unpopular

politics – questionable at best

artist, writer, thinker

The Enemy – and its pitfalls

Vorticism

Vorticismderives from Futurism and Cubism

F. T. Marinetti – Thursday’s reading

dynamism

form

purity

line, plane, colour

content does not matter – non representative

p. 86, BLAST 2

VorticismSo: What has Vorticism got to do with the War?

Vorticism

“The Creditors” 1912

Vorticism

“The Machine Age” 1916

Vorticism

“The Menin Road” 1918

Vorticism

“Battery Shelled” 1919

Vorticism

“Mr. Wyndham Lewis as a Tyro” 1921

BLAST 1914 shocking, offensive, challenging, effrontery

young men, brash, arrogant, defiant

blasting away at what they disapprove

blessing what they approve

often in the same page

new poetry, new visual arts, new typography, new distribution, new aesthetics

To Hell with the Old (cf. Eliot, Pound, Aldington, …)

BLAST

BLAST

BLAST

BLAST

BLAST

Lewis on BLAST 1: p. 85-6 in BLAST 2

get a load of his review of the 1st number’s reception

BLAST 1915the war number

after a year of war, things are slightly more restrained

people are gone, to the front – some dead

most notably Henri Gaudier-Brzeska whose sculptures were eminently vorticist

Gaudier-Brzeska

“Head of Ezra Pound” 1914

Gaudier-Brzeska

“Red Stone Dancer” 1913

Gaudier-Brzeska

“Seated Woman” 1914

Let’s read a bit…

What do you want to talk about?

nationality p.6, 15, war and art p. 25, 72 Gaudier-Brzeska and Marinetti p. 26,

33 Aestheticism (decadence) p. 71 the war p. 73, 75, BLAST and BLESS p. 92-3 design, typography, illustrations “The Crowd Master” p. 94-102

FuturismF. T. Marinetti (1876-

1944)

Leader of Italian futurism

Aggressive, brash

Promoted machine, noise, violence, dynamics, war, speed, movement, youth

Toured England 1913, met Lewis and influenced a lot

Futurism

Fortunato Depero, Skyscrapers and Tunnels (Gratticieli e tunnel), 1930

Futurism

Goncharova, Cyclist

Futurism

Goncharova, Cyclist

Promotional Poster for Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis (1927)

Manifesto for a NEW ArtGet into groups of four

Write me a manifesto for a new art in the style of Marinetti and/or Lewis

You can Blast and Bless things if you like

Whip up your sense of aggression, anger, outrage

Tell me how it is – and how it should be