Wyndham Lewis

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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.
Black and white photo of Wyndham Lewis in London, taken by Alvin Langdon Coburn, 25 February 1916. Lewis is seated, with legs spread wide, holding a cigarette in one hand and resting his other hand on his knee.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Family and Intimate relationships Fay Weldon
During her marriage she and Edgar entertained the literary and avant-garde world: she later regaled her grand-daughter with irreverent stories of Joseph Conrad , Jean Rhys (Such a louche young woman),
qtd. in
Weldon, Fay. Auto da Fay. Flamingo, 2002.
102
Ford Madox Ford
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, 1998.
9
which was hardly accurate when she was at the time twenty-seven. Rodker...
Family and Intimate relationships Ada Leverson
AL 's three sisters all married socially prominent Jewish husbands.
Burkhart, Charles. Ada Leverson. Twayne, 1973.
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, 1993.
239-40
Family and Intimate relationships Dorothy Richardson
Odle illustrated editions of Voltaire 's Candide, Swift 's Gulliver's Travels, Wilde 's The Sphinx, and Twain 's 1601, among others; his images also appeared in such periodicals as The Gypsy...
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, 1989.
xvii
Holroyd, Michael, and Jane Hill. “Foreword”. The Art of Dora Carrington, Herbert Press, 1994, pp. 7-9.
7
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...
Friends, Associates Rebecca West
Through them RW met some important literary figures, including Wyndham Lewis and contributors to Ford's journal, The English Review.
Rollyson, Carl. Rebecca West: A Saga of the Century. Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
34-5
Friends, Associates Ezra Pound
During his time in London, EP met his future wife Dorothy Shakespear , as well as Henry James , Ford Madox Ford , Wyndham Lewis , and W. B. Yeats . He also met...
Friends, Associates Harriet Shaw Weaver
As editor, HSW attempted to recruit Storm Jameson for the paper, but Jameson unhappily could not accept a full-time position. She also began to acquaint herself with contributors, such as H. D. , whom she...
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, 1998, p. xv - xix.
xvi
“Mary Butts Papers”. Beinecke Rare Book Room and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
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 Harriet Shaw Weaver
Before meeting James Joyce but after becoming his patron, HSW envisaged him as noble and ascetic. She was upset when in 1921 Wyndham Lewis depicted Joyce to her as a drunken spendthrift. Joyce countered these...
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 ...
Friends, Associates Gertrude Stein
It was John Lane and Roger Fry who introduced them to the Bloomsbury circle. The trip did not result in a publishing contract, as GS had hoped, but it did advance her reputation. The next...
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...

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 .
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 112. Gale Research, 1991.
318-19
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
North, John S., editor. The Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals 1800-1900. North Waterloo Academic Press, 1997, 10 vols.
6

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.
Windsor, Alan, editor. Handbook of Modern British Painting 1900-1980. Scolar Press, 1992.
51, 210
Ford, Boris, editor. The Cambridge Guide to the Arts in Britain. Vol. 9 vols, Cambridge University Press, 1988–2024.
8: 159

: Madame Strindberg opened the Cave of the...

Building item

Summer 1912

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 .
Anscombe, Isabelle. Omega and After: Bloomsbury and the Decorative Arts. Thames and Hudson, 1981.
33-5
Materer, Timothy. Vortex: Pound, Eliot, and Lewis. Cornell University Press, 1979.
22

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.
Wees, William C. Vorticism and the English Avant-Garde. University of Toronto Press, 1972.
19, 162-79, 213-27

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 .
Ford, Boris, editor. The Cambridge Guide to the Arts in Britain. Vol. 9 vols, Cambridge University Press, 1988–2024.
8: 163
Wees, William C. Vorticism and the English Avant-Garde. University of Toronto Press, 1972.
6, 201

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 .
Wees, William C. Vorticism and the English Avant-Garde. University of Toronto Press, 1972.
214-15

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.
Sullivan, Alvin, editor. British Literary Magazines: The Modern Age, 1914-1984. Vol. 4, Greenwood Press, 1986.
145
Marsden, Dora, and Harriet Shaw Weaver, editors. The Egoist. Reprint ed., Kraus, 6 vols.
December 1919

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 Hitler Cult. Dent, 1939.
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.