Guide to Futurism: History and Characteristics of Futurism

Futurism was a twentieth-century cultural and artistic movement celebrating technology, invention, and modernity in Milan, Italy. For hundreds of years, Italian art had been preoccupied with its Classical Roman and Renaissance past. The Futurist artists believed that avant-garde art could liberate Italy from what they saw as the country’s oppressive cultural legacy. Futurist painting, sculpture, poetry, and architecture associated industrialization with progress, glorifying modern technologies and artistic methods.

Futurism’s reign in Italy was very brief, lasting from 1909 to about 1916, but it left a lasting impression.

• Origins: The term Futurism was coined in 1909, when Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti published “Manifesto del Futurismo” (“manifesto of Futurism”) in Paris newspaper Le Figaro. Marinetti’s manifesto effectively started the Futurist movement, calling for a complete rejection of the past, especially artistic and political traditions. Marinetti declared that “a roaring motor car is more beautiful than the Winged Victory of Samothrace,” referring to the famed ancient Greek sculpture displayed in the Louvre.
• Development of artistic style: When Marinetti published his manifesto, Futurism did not have a distinct visual style—Marinetti was, after all, a writer. But several visual artists were influenced by his words and published their own Futurist manifestos on painting, sculpture, and architecture, beginning in 1910.
• Lasting influence: World War I effectively brought Futurism to an end. Two of the movement’s biggest stars, Umberto Boccioni and Antonio Sant’Elia, both died in 1916 during military service. Though Italian Futurism was a relatively short-lived art movement, it provided inspiration for future movements including German Expressionism and Dada.

Futurist art combined a fascination with modern subject matter with a dynamic painting style.

1. 1. Visual depiction of speed and dynamism: Many Futurist paintings and sculptures depict the dynamic action of speed and movement, and evoking what speed feels like. Some painters chose to capture multiple moments in time in a single fixed image, as in Giacomo Balla’s Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912). Sculptors worked to produce the feeling of movement in their static medium, evidenced by Umberto Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913).
2. 2. Simultaneity: Futurist paintings often portray multiple objects and figures moving simultaneously, in effect capturing the spirit and vitality of the modern world. A great example of a single image of rhythmic swirling forms is Gino Severini’s Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin (1912).
3. 3. Technological subject matter: Futurist painters chose to glorify new technology and modern warfare through their art. Many of the works of art created by Futurist artists feature airplanes, automobiles, tanks, locomotives, and machinery.
4. 4. Divisionism: Futurist painters put an Italian spin on the technique of divisionism to create a distinctive style. They broke an image down by painting in stippled stripes and dots, which emphasized the dynamism of the subject matter. This painting style was inspired by both pointillism and the cubism of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
5. 5. Politics: The Futurists were also active political figures in modern Italy, and their interests in anarchism and anti-establishment movements were often alluded to or overtly referenced in their art. Many members of the group were sympathetic towards or outright supporters of Italian fascism during the first world war, including the movement’s founder, Marinetti, who aligned with Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party in 1919.

These artists were considered the most important figures in Italian Futurism.

1. 1. Gino Severini: Considered one of the most prolific painters of the Futurist movement, Severini is best known for his divisionist painting style. His paintings often depicted urban life and war machinery.
2. 2. Umberto Boccioni: Coccioni was one of the most talented sculptors and painters of the Futurists. His most notable works depict bodies in motion, such as the famous Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913), Dynamism of a Soccer Player (1913), and Dynamism of a Cyclist (1913).
3. 3. Giacomo Balla: Balla was a Futurist poet and painter best known for his dynamic paintings of urban life in the modern world. He was highly influenced by Post-Impressionism, an interest which he passed onto Severini and Boccioni.
4. 4. Carlo Carrà: Painter Carrà’s work may be the most political of the group of Futurists. He often painted subject matter with overtly anarchistic or anti-establishment overtones, such as Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (1910–11).
5. 5. Luigi Russolo: Russolo was a Futurist painter and composer who created experimental musical instruments.

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