Wyndham Lewis

The art magazine, Blast, included the Vorticist Manifesto in its first issue.  The Vorticist Manifesto calls for a complete makeover of literature and art with very strong language including a call to "Blast First (from politeness) England" (Lewis 1083) and to "Blast France" (Lewis 1085)  Wyndham Lewis used Blast to cry out against England's authors and artists, whom he believed to be stuck in the nineteenth century.  His idea of Vorticism celebrates breaking free from what other people think, especially the idea of the individual.

In looking into Lewis' personal life, it is easy to see that he appreciated the idea of the individual more than the masses.  He did not write what people of his time wanted to hear.  He attacked the modern society of the time and wrote pro-fascist literature as well.  Though his work was never appreciated during his lifetime, Lewis and especially Blast "were remarkably important in clearing the way for the new art of modernism" (Damrosch 1082).