Vorticism, vertigo and perspective

This week the newspapers reported that a painting by Helen Saunders, titled Atlantic City, that was deemed to have been lost, but has been discovered underneath a painting by Wyndham Lewis (Courtauld Institute, 2022.)

Here is an image of Saunders original painting

I love the planes and angles, and the black and white colours. I think my King Street pieces have this kind of look. I have never heard of Helen Saunders, so I have been reading up on Vorticism.

Vorticism was a short-lived UK art movement that emerged before the first world war. Its members were influenced by cubism and futurism. They argued for a distinct theoretical position, in the two editions of BLAST magazine, edited by Percy Wyndham Lewis. The movement was interrupted by the start of the war, and several of the original works featured in BLAST were considered to be lost.

One of the aspects that interests me is that vorticist pieces are often said to induce feelings of vertigo. This is something I have been very badly affected by since childhood, and is a constant in my daily life whenever I walk down stairs. The strong diagonal lines and sharp perspectives in many vorticist works, are also something that I have incorporated in my own work. Many of my research photographs and sketches focus on streets and buildings with strong perspective lines. My vision is affected by astigmatism, a common visual condition that causes a slight distortion of straight lines and exaggerates perspective.

This reading has made me consider whether either of these conditions have influenced the choices I have made in choosing my inspiration and designing and making my work.

References

Courtauld Institute, 2022. Lost painting by Britain’s leading female abstract artist rediscovered by students at The Courtauld. [Blog] News- blogs, Available at: <https://courtauld.ac.uk/news-blogs/2022/lost-painting-by-britains-leading-female-abstract-artist-rediscovered/> [Accessed 23 August 2022].

Overy, P., 2006. Vorticism. In: N. Stangos, ed., Concepts of Modern Art. New York: Thames and Hudson.