[World War 1 Effects on the Art and Artists of the British Vorticist Movement]

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Acknowledgement

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Declaration

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Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of art and artists of British Vorticist Movement in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on artists of British Vorticist Movement and its relation with World War 1. The research also analyzes many aspects of the effects of World War 1 and tries to gauge its effect on the art and artists of the British Vorticist Movement. Finally the research describes various factors which are responsible for such affects and tries to describe the overall effect of World War 1 on the art and artists of the British Vorticist Movement.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the study1

Problem Statement2

Purpose of the study3

Significance of the Study3

Rationale of the study5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW8

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY17

Research Design17

Literature Search17

Keywords17

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION18

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION22

REFERENCES27

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background of the study

The increasingly industrialized climate of the early twentieth century dominated the social, political, and economic conditions in Western Europe and the United States, exposing more and more people to mechanized and impersonal environments (Black, 1969: 130-135).  As a result, social and individual anxieties developed involving the paradoxical senses of alienation and anonymity that accompany higher population densities.  The Modernist movement in art and literature developed as a reaction to these changes, emphasizing the insufficiency and limitations of existing traditional forms in capturing the shape and emotion of the unfamiliar realm of modernity.  Manifesting itself in many forms, the movement ranged from a sense of revolt through artistic experimentation in the avant-garde to the embracing of materialism through commercial advertising in the mainstream culture.  Each approach in understanding and adapting to the changes of modernity found common ground in their attempts to remain relevant in a society suddenly flooded with numerous cultural influences and overwhelmed by the backdrop of a cityscape and a looming loss of humanity (Foster, 2004: 68-77).  The First World War, which demonstrated the effect of industrialization in a time of elevated, international conflict, tested the different manifestations of the Modernist movement's abilities to remain relevant in times of strife, as illustrated and captured in the ephemera from the period.  For instance, in an effort to uphold a sense of relevance during World War I, the avant-garde magazine Blast and the mainstream, Scribner's, both appropriated the war as a context through which to recast their respective central objectives. For Blast, this meant integrating the war into its discourse of aesthetic development; for Scribner's, the war was framed culturally as an object of commercial and ...