becoming a self in history, becoming a self in my street
David Bomberg
David Bomberg was a working class Jewish boy who made it to art school
and believed in the ideals of modernism. He was deeply influenced by the dream of a future in which
machines would free us from having to work. Called up to fight in the trenches of the First World War, he
witnessed unbearable carnage and got himself discharged by shooting himself in the foot. In doing this he
risked being shot for cowardice. After his experiences in the trenches he suffered a severe depression. His
whole view of life, his standpoint, had been called into question by the reality of war. He felt a deep need not
to be abstract, but to find what one lived for out of real experience, not theories. He then rejected all the ideas
of modernism, feeling that he had seen the consequences of modern technology untamed by human values,
first hand. He said:
‘We have no need to dwell on the material significance of man’s
achievements…but with the approach of scientific mechanization and the submerging of individuals we have
urgent need of the affirmation of his spiritual significance and his individuality.’
By speaking as he did
and painting in a new way, he lost credibility in the fashionable art world and lived in great poverty. Despite
treading this lonely path he never compromised, as he believed that art without integrity was nothing. Towards
the end of his life, he taught in the Borough Polytechnic in London and became known as the greatest
teacher of the age by his students. He only received real recognition after his death.