ABSTRACT
The Vorticists were not, like the Futurists, a unified group; they were sensitive and touchy artists, always quarrelling with each other. The Vorticists had an almost schizoid attitude toward Lewis, who could be both a marvellous friend and a dangerous enemy. He was charming, energetic and brilliant, but he enjoyed intrigue and was very short-tempered. Lewis’ relations with the terribly proper and wealthy female Vorticists were rather different than with the more threatening men. Helen Saunders and Jessica Dismorr were close friends who adored Lewis and suffered from his indifference. The strongest influence on Vorticism and on Blast was Italian Futurism, especially its manifestations in England between December 1910, when F. T. Marinetti first lectured in London, and the spring of 1914, when he gave a bizarre series of conference at the Dore Galleries.
