BLAST! 1914 and 1915, Wyndham Lewis, ed.

Percival Wyndham Lewis   the men of 1914  unpopular  politics – questionable at best  artist, writer, thinker  The Enemy – and its pitfalls  Vorticism

Vorticism  derives 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

Vorticism  So: 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

Lewis on BLAST 1:  p in BLAST 2  get a load of his review of the 1 st number’s reception

BLAST 1915  the 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  design, typography, illustrations  “The Crowd Master” p

Futurism  F. T. Marinetti ( )  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 Art  Get 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