vorticism

American  

[vawr-tuh-siz-uhm] / ˈvɔr təˌsɪz əm /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

1. a short-lived avant-garde British art movement that was nurtured by Wyndham Lewis, derived from futurism and cubism, and reached its climax in an exhibition in London in 1915, dwindling in influence after World War I.

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vorticism British  

/ ˈvɔːtɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

1. an art movement in England initiated in 1913 by Wyndham Lewis combining the techniques of cubism with the concern for the problems of the machine age evinced in futurism

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Other Word Forms

• vorticist noun

Etymology

Origin of vorticism

1910–15; < Latin vortic-, stem of vortex vortex + -ism

Example Sentences

They both disliked vorticism, the remarkable English movement that combined elements of cubism, futurism and Dada and centered on the belligerent genius of Wyndham Lewis, painter, soldier, novelist, critic and editor of Blast.

From Time Magazine Archive

In 1916 when U. S. excitement over free verse, imagism, vorticism, and other strange movements was red hot.

From Time Magazine Archive

Futurism linked up with a similar movement in England, named vorticism by its leader, the painter-critic Wyndham Lewis.

From Time Magazine Archive

Composed entirely of accepted modernist leaders, the exhibition proved that the freakishness of cubism, vorticism, other truculent cults, is quite defunct.

From Time Magazine Archive

She had met the young man with the Albanian costume, and he had talked to her about vorticism and this jolly new Polish composer with his suite for tom-tom and cymbals.

From The Innocents A Story for Lovers by Lewis, Sinclair