Bergson in Britain

• Brings to light new evidence of British artists’ direct engagement with Bergson, opening new avenues of research and interpretation for the artists Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, John Duncan Fergusson, and artist-writers Roger Fry and Wyndham Lewis
• Based on archival material in Paris and US not previously accessed (Bibliotèque Jacques Doucet, Isabella Gardner Museum, Boston and Wyndham Lewis’ marginalia in his editions of Bergson’s texts at The University of Texas at Austin), in addition to primary sources in UK (Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, London, and Strathclyde), and US (Universities of Cornell and Texas at Austin)
• Changes art history’s standard readings of these artists as the evidence of their knowledge of and engagement with Bergson is irrefutable
• Explores concepts of duration, intuition, creativity; the image and perception as they were formulated by Bergson and understood by his contemporaries
• Demonstrates Bergson’s relevance to key problematics for Art History: temporality, intuition, subjectivity, representation, the image.

Charlotte de Mille shows that the reception of the philosophy of Henri Bergson by British artists and critics was far more wide spread and of far greater importance in the UK than has been previously thought.

Based on archival material in Paris and the US, not all previously accessed, along with primary UK sources, she opens new avenues of research and interpretation on the work of artists Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, John Duncan Fergusson and artist-writers Roger Fry and Wyndham Lewis.

De Mille demonstrates the profound impact of Bergson’s work in UK culture immediately prior to World War One. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates philosophy, art criticism and art history. An Epilogue considers the proximity of Bergson’s thought on temporality, perception, intuition and subjectivity to art history, from Alois Riegl and Aby Warburg, to practitioners today.