WAR IMPRESSIONS
By 1913, fueled by his participation in the Armory Show and a favorable association with the Daniel Gallery, Manigault was receiving critical acclaim for his “genuine originality.” Amid the conflict of World War I in Europe, however, he interrupted his burgeoning professional success in 1915 in order to volunteer as an ambulance driver for the British Expeditionary Force. His tour of duty, which took him to Flanders where some of the heaviest fighting was underway, lasted five months, at which point he was deemed incapacitated for further service and discharged. Evidence suggests that he suffered a severe nervous breakdown, and from this time onward his mental health was precarious.

Returning from the war depressed and disturbed by what he had experienced, Manigault found it difficult to return to painting. In order to help deal with the frequent bouts of melancholia and depression, he relied on care from his wife Gertrude Buffington Phillips, whom he had married just two days before leaving for Flanders. From the end of 1915 into 1916, his work varies greatly in subject matter and style, as he was searching for the appropriate means to convey his now-altered artistic vision.

The works Manigault produced soon after his military ordeal herald a radical departure. Vorticist Landscape (War Impression), a large watercolor painting, features a high degree of abstraction hitherto unseen in the artist’s oeuvre. In addition, its composition bristles with a nervous energy that is unlike the more stately calm of his earlier creations. Possibly inspired by the Synchromists’ works at the Forum Exhibition, Manigault adopted this abstracted, vibrant style in order to convey his impressions of the chaotic vortex of war.
VORTICIST LANDSCAPE
1916
Curtis Galleries
Minneapolis