Vorticism

The Vorticists were a group of London artists that decided to work closely together in 1914 to better promote the avant-garde style that they had formulated. The label "Vortisim" was coined by Ezra Pound in early 1914, and the group were together in London until August 1914, which is when the First World War broke out.

Blast was the groups' manifesto. It was edited by Wyndham Lewis and was produced as a large "Puce Monster" that had 'BLAST' printed diagonally on the outside. Inside, amongst many articles and illustrations of their art, was a series of pages where the group either 'blasted' or 'blessed' people and institutions. It was an idea copied from the Futurist group who was also trying to make a name for itself using similar methods at this time in London and Italy. Blast was an enormous hit in Britain, and the publicity that the Vorticist group required was suddenly attained.

The Vorticists created a new aesthetique virtually overnight (let us remember they only existed as a group for six months) and their industrious output caused their art to be seen in many places. Meanwhile they declared war on the Futurists, were involved in supporting women in their fight for universal suffrage, and were busy developing new ideas in sculpture.

The curiosity of newspaper editors and the public in general made Vorticist painters the first 20th century British Art celebrities. They were loathed and loved by the public much like a modern day Turner Prize winner. For a few months, the idea of abstract art painted by a half-crazed bohemian prophet gripped the imagination of the public. Newspapers had cartoons with artists in them; they were reported in the popular press more often than ever before, and the ideas behind art started being considered by ever greater numbers than ever before.

That other big activity of 1914, War, effectively killed the Vorticist movement. Although Vorticism had its own exhibitions in wartime, in 1915 in London (and another in New York in 1917) these were almost formalities. After the War, Vorticism struggled, and it seems now that a general embarrassment of its prewar exuberance led to its exponents to abandon the hard sell of Vorticism, and more unfortunately, some of its artistic achievements.

However, almost ten decades later, we can begin to see how much Vorticism achieved in its few months' existence. It was an important, internationally known art movement, which laid the foundations of Modernist Art.

Vorticism produced the first British abstracts.

Vorticism was the first multi-media art movement in Britain, using pictorial art, sculpture and the printed word.

Vorticist artists saw themselves as revolutionary educationalists as much as artists, teaching the public a new graphic language that spoke of the Modern Age. - REF 

Manifesto - Blast

Note there were two original BLAST productions. These were BLAST (retrospectively known as BLAST 1)- published June 1914, and BLAST 2 published in 1915. There has been a modern production dubbed 'BLAST 3' and there is a fourth BLAST planned for 2011. Where no particular BLAST number is specified, the writer alludes to BLAST 1.

BLAST was the Vorticists' own periodical and manifesto. It was first published in June 1914.

The journal's editor was Wyndham Lewis, the de facto leader of the Vorticists. Subtitled a 'Review of the Great English Vortex', it literally reviewed the state of art at this moment in Great Britain, and what was required to reinvigorate it after the years of Victorian neglect.

Its physical appearance was startling. It was a magazine, but unlike any other magazine printed before. The format was a softback of a monstrous size - 12 by 9.5 inches (30.5 by 24cm). The cover was thick puce card, and there was just one word printed diagonally front and back: BLAST. 

The name of the publication, 'Blast' is a derogatory exclamation, and is used repeatedly in the first and most important section of the publication, Manifesto I. Within this section, the Vorticists 'blast' many institutions, objects and people who need to be overcome before their vision of a new Vorticist Britain can come about. There is a (smaller) 'Bless' section which is a list the positive forces that favour their programme. What is unusual and completely unprecedented (at least in the English language) is the typographical layout of the pages. The words are sized in a selection of point sizes depending on the force of the rhetoric. Point sizes vary from 36pt (1/2 inch, 13mm) to lesser sizes of 24pt and 18pt, and these size changes can occur several times in one line of text. This kind of typographical formating had only been used in advertising before this time, and never in the confines of an art periodical. It was in this sense a revolutionary moment.

Apart from advertising, there had been similar typographical experiments by the Futurists, for example in Marinetti's Italian printing of his poem, 'Zang Tumb Tumb' from 1912. This utilised the concept of 'Parole in Liberta' or 'words in liberty'. This allowed words to float across the page in freedom from the conventional rows of printed matter.

The Manifesto was signed by Aldington, Arbuthnot, Atkinson, Gaudier Brzeska, Dismorr, Hamilton, Pound, Roberts, Sanders, Wadsworth and Lewis.

There is no doubt that Blast in general, and Manifesto I in particular owed some of its style and content to the Futurists. The important point is that Lewis was able to organise its wording, finance its printing, and secure its sponsorship by some of the most important avant garde artists of the day.