Percy Wyndham Lewis 1882–1957, Design Centre, Rugby School, until 8 December
In the 1915 Vorticist Manifesto, published in the movement’s magazine Blast, Wyndham Lewis (he dropped Percy) wrote:
Lewis is one of them, as this first-rate exhibition at his alma mater — he was a pupil for two years from 1897 — amply demonstrates. It is the sole commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of this artist writer, who is comparable only with that other double-yolked exception to the rules, William Blake, one of his heroes, born 250 years ago this 28 November.
Lewis will forever be associated with Vorticism, an artistic rebellion intended to wake England from its academic lethargy (hence Blast), drawing its inspiration from Cubism and Futurism, but deploring the first for its indifference to personality and the second for disowning tradition. As Lewis later wrote, although he tried to make Vorticism a movement he was essentially a one-man band.
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