Blasting the future! : vorticism in Britain 1910-1920 /
Jonathan Black [and others].
- 110 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 27 cm
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Blasting the Future! Vorticism in Britain 1910-1920 held at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London, 4 Feb.-18 Apr. 2004 and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 7 May-25 July 2004.
Includes bibliographical references.
Forewords / Futurism and the British Avant-Garde / 'The Eminent English Futurist': C. R. W. Nevinson and English Futurism in Peace and War / Taking Heaven by Violence: Futurism and Vorticism as seen by the British Press c.1912-20 / Ornaments, Talismans and Toys: The Hand-held Sculptures of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska / Plates -- Chronology / Excerpts from Key Texts / Roberta Cremoncini and Alistair Smith -- Christopher Adams -- Michael J. K. Walsh -- Jonathan Black -- Jonathan Wood -- Jonathan Black -- Jonathan Black.
The time is ripe for a fundamental reassessment of the impact that Futurism had on British culture and of Vorticism - the specifically British avant-garde movement inspired by the founder of the Italian Futurist movement, Filippo Tommasao Marinetti. This text, which accompanies an exhibition at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, combines novel material and original research to provide a coherent overview of Futurism and Vorticism, before, during and after World War I. The exhibition is the first major showing by the movement since 1974 and the text illustrates works in a wide range of media by England's only Futurist, C.R.W. Nevinson, and by the core of artists associated with Vorticism: Wyndham Lewis; Edward Wadsworth; Frederick Etchells; William Roberts; Henri Gaudier-Brzeska; Jacob Epstein; and Jacob Kramer. The influence exerted on these artists by the Italian Futurists Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, Gino Severini and the mercurial impresario of Futurism, Marinetti, is explored fully. The works illustrated are from a range of prominent public and private collections, a number having never previously been exhibited.