Vorticism - 1914

Vorticism was a short-lived modernist movement in British art and poetry of the early 20th century.  It was partly inspired by Cubism. The movement was announced in 1914 in the first issue of BLAST, which contained its manifesto and the movement's rejection of landscape and nudes in favour of a geometric style tending towards abstraction. Ultimately, it was their witnessing of unfolding human disaster in World War I that "drained these artists of their Vorticist zeal". Vorticism was based in London but international in make-up and ambition.

Edward Wadsworth “Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool”

Vorticism combines the geometrical fragmentation of Cubism with Futurist-style machine-like imagery, in order to illustrate the dynamism of the modern world. Lewis considered Vorticism to be a genuinely independent alternative to both Cubism and Futurism. He was impressed by the strong structure of Cubist painting, but declared that it lacked life when compared to Futurist art. The latter, however, he criticized for its lack of structure. Vorticism was intended to combine the best elements of both. Although - optically - Vorticist painting can look very similar to Futurist works, philosophically they are relatively distinct. Because while movement was the key feature of Futurism, modern industrialization was the key motif of Vorticism, expressed in a 'dry', stripped-down, angular style.In a Vorticist painting modern life is shown as an array of bold lines and harsh colours drawing the viewer's eye into the centre of the canvas.

Wyndham Lewis, David Bomberg, Sir Jacob Epstein, EdwardWadsworth, William Roberts were representatives of Vorticism.