Vorticism

Fethiye, the ancient city of Telmessos suffers an unfortunate lack of old buildings as the town was struck by devastating earthquake in 1857 and then again in April 1957 when 3200 buildings were damaged.

Fethiye Vortex, Watercolour, 16" x 10"

Fethiye Vortex, Watercolour, 16″ x 10″

The art movement of Vorticism, founded by abstract artist Percy Wyndham Lewis was a mixture of Futurism and Cubism and lasted from 1912-1915. It was the first English art movement dedicated to abstraction and ultimately it too was destroyed by a tremendous earthquake, better known as The First World War.  Vorticists recognized the power of technology, particularly the machine and anticipated that it would result in a bleak,purposeless life for humankind. They must have been thinking of the mobile phone……

Then the earthquake here in June 2012 provided the final inspiration for this watercolour.

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