Modern British painting started after painters recognised the potential for artistic freedom in modernism. Realizing the possibilities in art that artists such as Cezanne and other modernist masters made apparent, British modern artists looked to a home-grown form of expressive, modern and direct way of painting.
An art that was direct, forward-looking, futuristic and overtly modern germinated in the minds of Britain’s artists. Exciting possibilities from foreign shores, from French impressionism cubism, through to surrealism and the international style, free from convention stimulated British modern artists to explore their own interpretations.
Creative, individual and overtly British, paintings by early London impressionists such as Walter Sickert led the way to a raft of creative modern artist absorbing cubism and futurism on the continent to develop Vorticism, with its aggressive geometric forms by artists such as David Bomberg.