Composition
- Artist: Wyndham Lewis
- Date: 1913
- Medium: Ink, watercolour and graphite on paper
- Dimensions: support: 343 x 267 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the *Composition* by Wyndham Lewis, created in 1913. At first glance it looks like a frantic collage of mechanical shapes and angular fragments that suggest a modern cityscape. Yet a closer look reveals faint human figures – the dynamic thrusting forms that rise from the lower left feel like a dancing couple. On the right side the woman bends backward; the white parallelogram halfway up the right edge could be her hair, while the pleated, curving architectural line at the centre bottom looks like a skirt. The work is rendered with ink, watercolour and graphite on paper, a medium Lewis often used for his early vorticist experiments. The tight, claustrophobic environment heightens the tension between abstract geometry and the suggestion of movement, making *Composition* a compelling snapshot of early 20th‑century abstraction.
See it in person
Composition is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
