Henri
Gaudier was born in St Jean de Braye in France
in 1891. He became a sculptor in Paris without any formal training.
In 1911 Gaudier moved to London with his
partner, Sophie Brzeska. Over the next couple of years he associated
with leading literary and artistic figures such as Wyndham
Lewis and Ezra Pound. He became a founder
member of the London Group and the following
year signed the Vorticist Manifesto.
On the outbreak of the First World War, Gaudier
enlisted in the French Army. After two
promotions for bravery, Henri Gaudier was killed at Neuville St. Vaast
on 5th June, 1915. Although his work was ignored during his life-time,
Gaudier was afterwards widely recognized as one of the most important
sculptors of his generation.
(1) Henri Gaudier-Brezeska,
letter to Edward Marsh (1st October, 1914)
I have been at the Front for the last fortnight and have seen both
latent and active fighting. By latent I mean staying days in trenches
under heavy artillery fire, keeping ready for any eventuality such
as a raid or an unforeseen forward movement from the enemy - by active,
a nice little night attack that we made last Saturday night upon an
entrenched position. We crept through a wood as dark as pitch, fixed
bayonets and pushed some 500 yards amid fields until we came to a
wood. There we opened fire and in a bound we were along the bank of
the road where the Prussians stood. We shot at each other some quarter
of an hour at a distance of 12-15 yards and the work was deadly. I
brought down two great giants who stood against a burning heap of
straw - my corporal accounted for four more, and so on all along the
line. They had so much luck, unhappily, for out of 12 of my squad
that went we found ourselves five after the engagement.
(2) Henri
Gaudier-Brezeska,
letter to his father (10th November, 1914)
My lieutenant sent me out to repair some barbed wire between our trenches
and the enemy's. I went through the mist with two chaps. I was lying
on my back under the obstacle when pop, out came the moon, then the
Boches saw me and well! pan pan pan! Then they broke the entanglement
over my head, which fell on me and trapped me. I took my butcher's
knife and hacked at it a dozen times. My companions had got back to
the trench and said I was dead, so the lieutenant, in order to avenge
me, ordered a volley of fire, the Boches did the same and the artillery
joined in, with me bang in the middle. I got back to the trench, crawling
on my stomach, with my roll of barbed wire and my rifle.
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