Frank Rutter - Futurism

Futurism

In October 1913, Rutter was commissioned by the Doré Gallery at 35 Bond Street in the West End to curate the Post-Impressionist and Futurist Exhibition, which displayed the story of those movements from Camille Pissarro to Vorticist Wyndham Lewis (who was no longer on good terms with Fry). Rutter's choice of Pissarro as a starting point was in contradistinction to the stance of Fry and the Bloomsbury Group, who saw Cézanne as the beginning of modern art.

Rutter made a link between the British artists he supported and the French intimiste painters, as well as featuring artworks by Severini and Boccioni of the Italian Futurism movement—which had been shown in London first by the Sackville Gallery—and by Brâncuşi, Epstein, Delaunay and Signac. Rutter's consummate curation and catalogue foreword were a testament to his deep knowledge of the subject. He praised Nevinson's The Departure of the Train De Luxe as "the first English Futurist picture".

Fry told Rutter that Fredrick Etchells from his Omega Workshops had nothing ready to show, and failed to forward a letter from Rutter to Wyndham Lewis, who nevertheless showed the large Kermesse, which, together with Delaunay's similarly sized Cardiff Football Team, made a centerpiece for the show.

The Cabyard, Night, the only painting by Robert Bevan acquired for a public collection during the artist's lifetime, was bought by the Contemporary Art Society on Rutter's recommendation that they should obtain it for the nation before a more discerning collector bought it.