ABSTRACTION For a guide to non-objective art see: Abstract Paintings: Top 100. For a list of styles/periods, see: Abstract Art Movements.

Futurist Painting

The Futurism movement was highly aspirational, though its ideas were neither original nor revolutionary. In general, 20th century painters associated with the Futurist movement worshipped scientific progress, glorifying speed, technology, the automobile, the airplane and industrial achievement. Established traditions were thrust aside in pursuit of victory over nature. When it came to establishing a new Futurist aesthetic, however, a visual idiom with which to express their concerns, Marinetti and the other artists were more hesitant.

To begin with they borrowed the methods of Neo-Impressionism (a general reference to Divisionism), in which forms are broken down into dots and stripes capable of depicting the glitter of light or the blur of high speed movement - see The City Rises (1910-11, Museum of Modern Art, New York) by Boccioni, and Leaving the Theatre (1910-11) by Carlo Carra. Both painters were influenced by Italian Divisionism and the paintings of Vittore Grubicy De Dragon (1851-1920). Following this, Carra and Boccioni visited Severini and Marinetti in Paris (to get a better feel for the avant-garde), where they fell under the influence of analytical Cubism, after which they adopted the methods (fragmented forms, multiple viewpoints, powerful diagonals) of the Cubists - see Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin (1912, MoMA NYC) by Gino Severini, as well as his masterpiece Pan-Pan at the Monico (1911-12, original lost, copy in the Pompidou Centre, Paris). Often, Cubist techniques would be combined with urban and political subject matter, often on a large scale - see Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (1910-11, MoMA NYC) by Carlo Carra. Although some Futurist works were relatively static, such as Woman with Absinthe (1911) by Carra, and Matter (1912) by Boccioni, the phenomenon of speed is a constant Futurist theme - see Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912, Allbright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, USA) by Giacomo Balla. However, Balla eventually went over to abstract art, producing work with no obvious reference to the idea being expressed - see his The Car has Passed (1913, Tate, London). For this kind of geometric abstraction see concrete art.

Futurist Sculpture

In 1912, Umberto Boccioni, the only sculptor among the Futurists, published his own Manifesto - Futurist Painting Sculpture: Plastic Dynamism (Pittura scultura Futuriste: Dinamismo plastico), which expounded his Bergson-type ideas on intuition, inner being and the relationship of form, motion and space. The following year Boccioni produced his masterpiece Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913, casts in MoMA New York, Tate London and elsewhere). This work vividly depicts the movement of the body, and illustrates his theory of "dynamism", a theme he also explored in other works like Synthesis of Human Dynamism (1912), Spiral Expansion of Speeding Muscles (1913) and Speeding Muscles (1913).

Exhibitions

Futurist art was first exhibited at a show of modern art in Milan (1911). The first purely Futurist show was in early 1912 at the Galerie Berhein-Jeune in Paris. The show then travelled to the Sackville Gallery London, the Sturm Gallery Berlin, and afterwards to Amerstam, Zurich and Vienna, generating widespread publicity for the movement, thanks largely to Marinetti's promotional flair.

Influence on Contemporary Artists

Italian Futurism had a visible impact on artists across Europe, including the Vorticists in Britain, the Dada movement in Zurich and Berlin, Delaunay's Orphism (Simultanism), Art Deco, American Precisionism, and Surrealism, while futurists in Russia had a strong effect on Rayonism and Constructivism. Russian Futurism began in 1912 with the publication of its manifesto A Slap in the Face For Public Taste. Members included the Russian artists David Burlyuk (1882-1967), Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964), Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962), Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) the founder of Suprematism, Velimir Khlebnikov and Alexei Kruchenykh (1886-1968). The movement endured longer in Russia, becoming closely associated with revolutionary politics, and influenced several other Russian art movements.

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Futurism : Italian Modern Art Movement - Visual Arts Encyclopedia