Wyndham Lewis

-
Standard Name: Lewis, Wyndham
WL was an early twentieth-century artist and writer: novelist, poet, playwright, periodical editor, commentator on literature and society, and above all a satirist and lampooner of many of his contemporaries. He was the leading spirit in the art movement known as Vorticism. His political writings included some ill-advised praise of Hitler during the early 1930s. He also published an autobiography.

Connections

Connections Author name Sort descending Excerpt
Literary responses Arnold Bennett
AB 's reviews, combined with his visibly privileged lifestyle, did not help his reputation among younger writers (such as those in the Bloomsbury Group ) as a wealthy snob or a philistine. Wyndham Lewis attacked...
Residence Stella Benson
During this visit to London, SB met many cultural, political, and social figures, including Wyndham Lewis (who drew a sketch of her), David Garnett , Kingsley Martin , Charles Morgan , Phyllis Bottome ,...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Mary Butts
In this essay Butts has some praise for Old Bloomsbury, particularly Lytton Strachey ,
Butts, Mary. “Bloomsbury”. Modernism/Modernity, edited by Camilla Bagg et al., Vol.
5
, No. 2, pp. 32-45.
34
but criticises it for relativism, artificiality, and lack of engagement with the real world. She credits Wyndham Lewis for...
Family and Intimate relationships Mary Butts
Her accounts of her marriage were disingenuous in several respects. She described it as one of those War-marriages between very young people,
Blondel, Nathalie. Mary Butts: Scenes from the Life. McPherson & Company.
9
which was hardly accurate when she was at the time twenty-seven. Rodker...
Friends, Associates Mary Butts
During this time MB became acquainted with Wyndham Lewis and Ford Madox Ford as well as Hamnett and Fry . She was a good friend of the strong feminist Wilma Meikle .
Blondel, Nathalie, and Nathalie Blondel. “Foreword”. Mary Butts: Scenes from the Life: A Biography, McPherson, p. xv - xix.
xvi
“Mary Butts Papers”. Beinecke Rare Book Room and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Fictionalization Dora Carrington
In Wyndham Lewis 's The Apes of God, Carrington is hinted at in Betty Blyth, a doll-like sex therapist.
Gerzina, Gretchen. Carrington: A Life of Dora Carrington, 1893-1932. John Murray.
xvii
Holroyd, Michael, and Jane Hill. “Foreword”. The Art of Dora Carrington, Herbert Press, pp. 7-9.
7
Friends, Associates Nancy Cunard
Her boredom with this life (her mother's social milieu) was something that she shared with her friend Iris Tree , also a poet. Despite her antipathy towards it, this life presented her with important literary...
Fictionalization Nancy Cunard
NC was cast as Iris March in Michael Arlen's The Green Hat, as Lucy Tantamount in Aldous Huxley 's Point Counter Point, as Baby Bucktrout in Wyndham Lewis 's The Roaring Queen...
Reception Nancy Cunard
NC was also the exemplary subject for painters and photographers—Nina Hamnett (who did a drawing of her for ten guineas at the request of Lady Cunard ),
Hamnett, Nina. Laughing Torso. Ray Long & Richard R. Smith, Inc.
209
John Banting , Eugene MacCown ,...
Occupation Roger Fry
At 33 Fitzroy Square in Bloomsbury, London, founder RF opened the Omega Workshops , an artists' group whose participants included Wyndham Lewis , Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant (both co-directors), and Dora Carrington .
Hussey, Mark. Virginia Woolf A to Z. Facts on File.
195
Friends, Associates H. D.
After her move to England, Ezra Pound introduced HD to his circle of friends, many of whom were important figures in the modernist movement. They included W. B. Yeats , T. S. Eliot ,...
Friends, Associates Violet Hunt
VH entertained here frequently: her sometimes piquantly mixed invitation lists included the names of H. D. , D. H. Lawrence , Ezra Pound , Joseph Conrad , Wyndham Lewis , Walter de la Mare ...
Leisure and Society Violet Hunt
VH chose to dress in bold colours prominent in the Vorticist aesthetic, and commissioned Wyndham Lewis , one of the movement's leaders, to create an abstract decoration for one of her rooms. West described the...
Friends, Associates Storm Jameson
She was once charged by Knopf with the task of attempting to persuade Wyndham Lewis to keep them as his American publisher, which she did on a cold, rainy day as vile as his temper...
Family and Intimate relationships Ada Leverson
AL 's three sisters all married socially prominent Jewish husbands.
Burkhart, Charles. Ada Leverson. Twayne.
19
The youngest, Violet , married art collector and patron Sydney Schiff ; their circle included Wyndham Lewis , T. S. Eliot , Katherine Mansfield , and Proust .
Speedie, Julie. Wonderful Sphinx: The Biography of Ada Leverson. Virago.
239-40

Timeline

April 1893: The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of the...

Writing climate item

April 1893

The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of the Fine and Applied Arts was founded this month by Charles Holme and first edited by Cleeson White .

1911: The Camden Town Group, a group of experimental...

Building item

1911

The Camden Town Group , a group of experimental Post-Impressionist British painters influenced by the work of Walter Sickert , was formed; it excluded women from its membership of sixteen.

: Madame Strindberg opened the Cave of the...

Building item

Summer1912

Madame Strindberg opened the Cave of the Golden Calf , an avant-garde night club located in a basement off Regent Street in London. Many notable artists of the day helped decorate the club, especially...

March 1914: Wyndham Lewis formed the Rebel Art Centre,...

Building item

March 1914

Wyndham Lewis formed the Rebel Art Centre , an artists' co-operative set up as a rival group to Roger Fry 's Omega Workshops .

2 July 1914: The first issue of the magazine Blast, edited...

Building item

2 July 1914

The first issue of the magazine Blast, edited by Wyndham Lewis , formally announced the arrival of Vorticism, an avant-garde movement in art.

10 June 1915: The first Vorticist exhibition opened at...

Building item

10 June 1915

The first Vorticist exhibition opened at the Doré Gallery in London; it included work by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska , Wyndham Lewis , Jessica Dismorr , and Helen Saunders .

20 July 1915: The second and final issue of Wyndham Lewis's...

Writing climate item

20 July 1915

The second and final issue of Wyndham Lewis 's Vorticist magazine, Blast, included artwork and literary pieces by Helen Saunders , Jessie Dismorr , and Dorothy Shakespear , along with poems by Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot .

December 1919: The last issue of The Egoist: An Individualist...

Writing climate item

December 1919

The last issue of The Egoist: An Individualist Review was published.

Texts

Lewis, Wyndham, and Naomi Mitchison. Beyond This Limit. Jonathan Cape, 1935.
Lewis, Wyndham, editor. Blast. Klaus Reprint Corporation.
Lewis, Wyndham. Blasting and Bombardiering. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1937.
Lewis, Wyndham. Hitler. Chatto and Windus, 1931.
West, Rebecca. “Indissoluble Matrimony”. Blast, edited by Wyndham Lewis.
Lewis, Wyndham. Men Without Art. Cassell, 1934.
Lewis, Wyndham. One-Way Song. Faber and Faber, 1933.
Lewis, Wyndham. Self Condemned. Methuen, 1954.
Ros, Amanda McKittrick et al. St. Scandalbags. Editor Mercer, T. Stanley, Merle Press, 1954.
Lewis, Wyndham. Tarr. Egoist, 1918.
Lewis, Wyndham. The Apes of God. Arthur Press, 1930.
Lewis, Wyndham. The Art of Being Ruled. Chatto and Windus, 1926.
Lewis, Wyndham, editor. The Enemy.
Lewis, Wyndham. The Jews, Are They Human?. Allen and Unwin, 1939.
Lewis, Wyndham. The Roaring Queen. Editor Allen, Walter, Secker and Warburg, 1973.
Lewis, Wyndham. Time and Western Man. Chatto and Windus, 1927.