Artwork
Design for a screen
Design for a screen is a watercolor work on paper by Percy Wyndham Lewis. It dates from 1913 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
This watercolour is titled Design for a screen. It was created by the English artist Percy Wyndham Lewis.
The screen that these designs were made for was first shown at the opening of the Omega Workshops in 1913. This gives us a sense of the context in which the design was created.
To learn more about the techniques used in this period, look up the technique of sfumato.
Overview
Executed in watercolour, the medium allows for fluid yet precise delineation of the composition's rhythmic lines and contrasting planes.
Design for a screen is a 1913 watercolour by the English artist and writer Percy Wyndham Lewis. Created during the formative period of the Omega Workshops, this work served as a preparatory design for a folding screen intended for the organization's inaugural exhibition in London. The piece exemplifies Lewis's early engagement with Vorticism, characterized by sharp, angular forms and a dynamic interplay of geometric shapes that reject naturalistic representation in favor of abstract energy.
Executed in watercolour, the medium allows for fluid yet precise delineation of the composition's rhythmic lines and contrasting planes. The screen was part of a collaborative effort led by Lewis, who founded the Omega Workshops to promote modernist design in applied arts. This specific design reflects the movement's ambition to integrate avant-garde aesthetics into everyday objects, marking a significant moment in Lewis's career as he transitioned from painting to broader design applications.
The work stands as a testament to the radical artistic climate of pre-World War I Britain, capturing the Vorticist desire to express the mechanical vitality of the modern age through bold, non-representational forms.
History & Provenance
The design was produced for a screen that debuted at the opening of the Omega Workshops in July 1913. The workshop, founded by members of the Bloomsbury Group, showcased avant‑garde decorative arts, and Lewis’s contribution formed part of that inaugural exhibition.
Technique & Style
Rendered in watercolour, the composition employs subtle gradations of tone, a quality reminiscent of the sfumato approach, allowing forms to dissolve into one another. The fluid handling of pigment reflects the modernist interest in abstraction and decorative pattern.
Context
Created during a period when artists sought to blur the boundaries between painting and design, the work aligns with the Omega Workshops’ mission to integrate art into everyday objects. Lewis’s involvement illustrates his engagement with collaborative, interdisciplinary projects characteristic of the pre‑World War I British art scene.
Artist & collection
Artist
Percy Wyndham Lewis was a Canadian-born British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited Blast, the literary magazine of the Vorticists.
