Manchester University Press
10 ‘A hysterical hullo-bulloo about motor cars’
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Jonathan Black
Abstract
Wyndham Lewis, self-proclaimed leader of the Vorticist 'gang', attacked Futurism in 1914 for its inconsistency and superficiality and the patent absurdity of claiming that Italy was at all in the same league as Imperial Britain. Lewis stressed that Britain, or more specifically England, was the birthplace of the modern industrial world. Lewis and his fellow Vorticists were thus very much building on an existing critique of Futurism within England (specifically) which damned it on racial, imperial and nationalistic grounds. Lewis's vocabulary also anticipates the line of criticism directed at Futurism which permeates the first issue of Blast, tellingly subtitled Review of the Great English Vortex and published at the beginning of July 1914. Awareness of Futurism is evident in work exhibited in October 1913 at the 'Post-Impressionists and Futurists' exhibition organised by Frank Rutter and held at the Dore Galleries on New Bond Street, London.
Abstract
Wyndham Lewis, self-proclaimed leader of the Vorticist 'gang', attacked Futurism in 1914 for its inconsistency and superficiality and the patent absurdity of claiming that Italy was at all in the same league as Imperial Britain. Lewis stressed that Britain, or more specifically England, was the birthplace of the modern industrial world. Lewis and his fellow Vorticists were thus very much building on an existing critique of Futurism within England (specifically) which damned it on racial, imperial and nationalistic grounds. Lewis's vocabulary also anticipates the line of criticism directed at Futurism which permeates the first issue of Blast, tellingly subtitled Review of the Great English Vortex and published at the beginning of July 1914. Awareness of Futurism is evident in work exhibited in October 1913 at the 'Post-Impressionists and Futurists' exhibition organised by Frank Rutter and held at the Dore Galleries on New Bond Street, London.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- 1 Engaging the crowd 14
- 2 Heroes/heroines of Futurist culture 27
- 3 ‘Out of touch’ 38
- 4 La bomba-romanzo esplosivo, or Dada’s burning heart 56
- 5 Futurist canons and the development of avant-garde historiography (Futurism – Expressionism – Dada) 72
- 6 ‘An infinity of living forms, representative of the absolute’? 95
- 7 The dispute over simultaneity 113
- 8 Fernand Léger’s La noce 133
- 9 Nocturnal itineraries 145
- 10 ‘A hysterical hullo-bulloo about motor cars’ 159
- 11 Futurist Performance, 1910–1916 176
- 12 Le Roi Bombance 195
- 13 The cult of the ‘expressive’ in Italian Futurist poetry 208
- 14 Visual approaches to Futurist aeropoetry 226
- 15 The Untameables 243
- 16 The dark side of Futurism 255
- 17 Rethinking interdisciplinarity 272
- 18 A Very Beautiful Day After Tomorrow 284
- Index 299
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- 1 Engaging the crowd 14
- 2 Heroes/heroines of Futurist culture 27
- 3 ‘Out of touch’ 38
- 4 La bomba-romanzo esplosivo, or Dada’s burning heart 56
- 5 Futurist canons and the development of avant-garde historiography (Futurism – Expressionism – Dada) 72
- 6 ‘An infinity of living forms, representative of the absolute’? 95
- 7 The dispute over simultaneity 113
- 8 Fernand Léger’s La noce 133
- 9 Nocturnal itineraries 145
- 10 ‘A hysterical hullo-bulloo about motor cars’ 159
- 11 Futurist Performance, 1910–1916 176
- 12 Le Roi Bombance 195
- 13 The cult of the ‘expressive’ in Italian Futurist poetry 208
- 14 Visual approaches to Futurist aeropoetry 226
- 15 The Untameables 243
- 16 The dark side of Futurism 255
- 17 Rethinking interdisciplinarity 272
- 18 A Very Beautiful Day After Tomorrow 284
- Index 299
