🎭Avant-garde Movements in Art Unit 4 – Futurism

What is Futurism?

• Early 20th-century Italian art movement founded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909
• Celebrated advanced technology, speed, violence, youth and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city
• Aimed to liberate Italy from the weight of its past and launch it into the modern world
  • Rejected traditional art forms and embraced the energy and dynamism of modern life
• Published manifestos, poetry, art and political works to convey their radical ideas
• Influenced art, architecture, music, theatre, literature, textiles and gastronomy
• Active from 1909 to the end of World War II, with its peak in the 1910s and 1920s
• Key characteristics included an energetic celebration of the machine age, embracing of new technologies, and a rejection of the static and traditional in art and daily life

Key Figures and Artists

• Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, founder and leader of the Futurist movement
  • Wrote the "Manifesto of Futurism" in 1909 which laid out the core principles
• Umberto Boccioni, painter, sculptor and theorist
  • Created iconic Futurist works like "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space" (sculpture) and "States of Mind" (painting series)
• Giacomo Balla, painter known for his studies of light, movement and speed
  • Paintings include "Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash" and "Abstract Speed + Sound"
• Gino Severini, painter who combined Futurist ideas with Cubist techniques
  • Works include "Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin" and "Armored Train in Action"
• Carlo Carrà, painter, turned away from Futurism after WWI toward metaphysical painting
• Luigi Russolo, painter and composer, author of "The Art of Noises" manifesto on Futurist music
• Antonio Sant'Elia, architect known for his visionary sketches of futuristic cities
  • Drew highly influential designs that were never built, killed in WWI at age 28

Historical Context and Origins

• Emerged in early 20th century Italy, a time of rapid industrialization and societal change
  • Italy was transitioning from a largely agrarian to an industrial economy
• Marinetti launched Futurism in 1909 with the publication of the "Manifesto of Futurism"
  • Called for a cultural revolution to match Italy's technological progress
• Futurists were influenced by Cubism, but rejected its static qualities
  • Wanted to depict movement, speed, energy and the sensation of flux
• Embraced the violence and nationalism that led to Italy's entry into World War I
  • Many Futurist artists enlisted and some were killed in combat
• Peak of Futurism was in the 1910s, but the movement continued into the 1920s and 1930s
  • Marinetti and others became closely linked with Mussolini's Fascist regime
• Futurism celebrated modernity and aimed to sweep away conventional culture
  • But many of its aesthetic innovations were absorbed into the mainstream over time

Main Principles and Ideas

• Emphasized speed, technology, youth, violence and objects such as the car and the industrial city
• Aimed to capture the dynamism and energy of the modern world
  • Focused on expressing sensations and abstract forces rather than physical reality
• Called for the rejection of traditional art forms and cultural institutions
  • Viewed museums, libraries and academies as obsolete
• Glorified war as a means of social progress and "hygiene for the world"
  • Marinetti wrote "We will glorify war—the world's only hygiene—militarism, patriotism..."
• Promoted Italian nationalism and the need to break from the country's past
  • But also saw Futurism as an international movement to revolutionize art everywhere
• Explored the idea of "lines of force" to convey a sense of movement and dynamism
• Sought to merge art with everyday life and engage with mass culture
  • Experimented with performance, publicity stunts, serate (raucous theater evenings)

Artistic Techniques and Styles

• Developed techniques to express movement, speed and dynamic forces
  • Used repeated, intersecting and curving lines to create a sense of rhythm
• Employed bright, bold colors, often from newly invented industrial dyes
• Experimented with multiple perspectives and viewpoints within a single work
  • Aimed to show an object from various angles simultaneously, inspired by Cubism
• Used techniques like divisionism (separating colors into dots or lines) for vibrancy
• Incorporated elements of abstraction to convey sensations and emotional effects
  • But never fully abandoned representation like later abstract art movements did
• In sculpture, aimed to depict objects moving through space rather than static forms
  • Boccioni's "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space" is a prime example
• Explored the use of unconventional materials like metal, wire and electric lights
• Expanded into theater, film, music, architecture, ceramics, textiles and other fields
  • Sought to bring Futurist principles into all areas of art and life

Famous Futurist Works

• "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space" (1913), bronze sculpture by Umberto Boccioni
  • Depicts a striding human figure as a series of flowing, aerodynamic forms
• "States of Mind: The Farewells" (1911), painting by Umberto Boccioni
  • Conveys the psychological experience of parting at a train station
• "Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash" (1912), painting by Giacomo Balla
  • Captures the movement of a dog's legs and leash in rhythmic lines
• "The City Rises" (1910), painting by Umberto Boccioni
  • Shows the construction of a modern city as a swirling, dynamic force
• "The Art of Noises" (1913), manifesto by Luigi Russolo
  • Called for a new type of music using urban and industrial sounds
• "Sketch for the New City" (1914), drawing by Antonio Sant'Elia
  • Envisions a towering, multi-level futuristic metropolis
• "The Cyclist" (1913), painting by Natalia Goncharova
  • Russian Futurist work depicting the motion and energy of a cyclist
• "Riot in the Galleria" (1910), painting by Umberto Boccioni
  • Captures the chaos and violence of a Futurist demonstration in Milan

Impact on Other Art Movements

• Influenced the development of abstract art and modernist avant-garde movements
  • Kandinsky and Malevich were inspired by Futurist ideas of capturing dynamic forces
• Helped pave the way for Dada and Surrealism by attacking artistic conventions
  • Futurist performances and "anti-art" stunts foreshadowed Dadaist provocations
• Impacted the Russian avant-garde, including Constructivism and Suprematism
  • Russian Futurist artists like Larionov and Goncharova adapted Futurist style
• Influenced the Vorticists, a British art movement led by Wyndham Lewis
  • Vorticism blended Futurist and Cubist ideas, but rejected Futurism's pro-war stance
• Futurist architecture inspired Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles
  • Sant'Elia's futuristic sketches influenced later modernist architects
• Futurist principles of integrating art and everyday life foreshadowed later movements
  • Bauhaus, Constructivism and De Stijl sought to merge art, craft and industry
• While Futurism was short-lived, it played a key role in launching the modernist avant-garde
  • Helped open up new artistic possibilities and challenge traditional boundaries

Legacy and Modern Relevance

• Futurism was a key influence on the development of modern art and avant-garde culture
  • Helped liberate artists from restrictive traditions and conventions
• Foreshadowed later avant-garde tactics of manifestos, performances and media stunts
  • Futurist serate (performance evenings) were an important model for Dada
• Futurist style and techniques were absorbed into Art Deco, Constructivism and other movements
  • Diagonal lines, bright colors and geometric forms became part of modernist design
• Influenced later artists' engagement with themes of technology, speed and urban life
  • Echoed in Precisionism, Kinetic Art, Op Art and Italian Aeropittura ("aeropainting")
• Prefigured the fascination with machines, violence and nationalism in some Fascist art
  • But Futurism's legacy is contested due to Marinetti's later support for Mussolini
• Scholarly interest in Futurism revived in the 1960s and has grown in recent decades
  • Major museum shows in Venice (1986), Paris (2008), and New York (2014)
• Contemporary artists still draw on Futurist ideas and aesthetics
  • Matthew Barney's "Cremaster" films echo Futurist fascination with speed and power
• Futurism's celebration of technology and rejection of tradition remains culturally relevant
  • Offers a historical lens to examine the impact of rapid technological change on society