Black and Khaki

Mediums: watercolour, gouache, paper.
Location: The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (the UK).

The abstract figurative style combining the forms of the machine’s active invasion in the life of society and the energetic images proposed by the Vorticism Manifesto can be seen in this composition. Avant-garde, in which two women took their rightful place, shocked the sophisticated British art community – such a simultaneous and powerful invasion of French Cubism, coupled with Italian Futurism, could hardly be expected. Helen Saunders used elements of both styles, as well as a special “male” aggression of the short-lived but essential for the English fine art movement originally and skillfully.