Artwork
Anthony
Anthony is a watercolor work on paper by the Post-Impressionist artist Wyndham Lewis. It dates from 1909 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
The background is uniformly pale with minimal texture, allowing the subject’s sharply defined features to dominate.
This watercolour portrait by Wyndham Lewis depicts a close-up of a male figure’s head and upper torso. Rendered in a limited palette of yellow, white, and dark blue, the work emphasizes simplified, angular forms. The background is uniformly pale with minimal texture, allowing the subject’s sharply defined features to dominate. The composition suggests a study rather than a finished portrait, with visible brushwork and unrefined contours.
Subject & Meaning
The subject is an anonymous male figure, likely a conceptual rather than a specific individual. The exaggerated features—broad jaw, large eyes, wide mouth—convey a sense of mechanical or architectural solidity. Lewis’s approach evokes the modernist fascination with form and structure, possibly alluding to the industrial age’s influence on human identity. The title *The Architect*, if applicable, reinforces this interpretation without confirming a literal profession.
Technique & Style
Lewis employs watercolour with bold, decisive lines to outline facial features, contrasting with the soft, wash-based yellow background. The brushwork is economical and deliberate, avoiding detail in favor of geometric abstraction. Dark blue accents define contours and shadows, while white areas suggest highlights. The technique reflects early modernist tendencies to reduce form to essential shapes, aligning with the emerging Vorticist aesthetic.
History & Provenance
The work was later donated by the family of Captain Lionel Guy Baker, though its earlier ownership is undocumented. It may have been shown in 1911 under the title *The Architect* and again in 1917 at the Vorticists exhibition in New York. These exhibitions positioned Lewis as a key figure in British modernism, though the painting’s exact role within those shows remains unclear due to limited records.
Context
Created during Lewis’s formative years as a modernist, this piece aligns with his interest in mechanized forms and the rejection of traditional portraiture. It predates his fully developed Vorticist style but shares its emphasis on angularity and abstraction. The work reflects broader early 20th-century artistic shifts toward fragmentation and stylization, influenced by Cubism and Futurism, yet filtered through Lewis’s distinctive, austere vision.
Legacy
Though not among Lewis’s most widely known works, this watercolour exemplifies his early experimentation with form and material. Its inclusion in key exhibitions helped establish his reputation within avant-garde circles. The piece remains a quiet but significant marker of his transition from figurative study to abstract modernism, offering insight into the development of British modernist portraiture.
Artist & collection
Artist
Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a Canadian-born British writer, painter and critic.
