Futurism - Influences and Characteristics

Overview

In this blog essay I am going to describe the characteristics and influences of the Futurism art movement.

Futurism originated in italy during the dawn of the 20th century, embracing the energetic dynamism and power of the machine age. The movement was instigated by the writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Although it started off from literature, the radicality of this movement quickly helped it to jump from painting to industrial design and grow more popular. Its influence spread from the peninsula across most of Europe and even as far as reaching out to Russian avante-garde. The movement left the most significant impact on the visual arts and poetry (White, 1998). Futurist artists were inspired by elements of Neo-Impressionism and Cubism, using them to portray the fast-paced, dynamic themes of the new modernist lifestyle that began to spread (Tate, 2009).

Marinetti accompanied by Futurism Artists

  

The Influences of Marinetti’s Manifesto

In 1909, Marinetti published his manifesto in the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dell'Emilia, as well as  the Parisian newspaper ‘Le Figaro’, in which he stated the goals of the new movement which he announced. He wanted to discard the art of the past and celebrate change, originality and innovation. In his column, he glorified the new rising technology wth bombastic rhetoric that was aimed to provoked controversy (White, 1998). Infact, he even struck out against museums and libraries, calling for their destruction. This manifesto swayed a group of young Milanese painters, which are:

Giacomo Balla, Umberto Baccioni, Carlo Carrà, and Gino Severini

These young artists signed up to their first Manifesto as early as 1910. Cubism had a major impact on Marinetti and his new folks when they saw it in person for the first time (Casden, 2015).

Giacomo Balla’s Dynamism

Giacomo Balla, 

Street light – Study of Light, 

1909, oil on canvas

Balla’s art became heavily influenced by Étienne-Jules Marey’s chronophotographic studies of human movement. Along with his fellow artists, they became obsessed with motion and its dynamism. On the other hand, Balla was uniterested in machinery and violence, but was instead a lyrical painter. His painting Street Light - Study Of Light is a great example to illustrate this, conveying the energy and momentum of modern life. 

In his painting, The Dynamism Of A Dog On A Leash (1912), Balla captures several instances but instead of portraying them separately, he masterfully combines those instances into one simultaneous moment (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998). 

Giacomo Balla, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, 

1912, oil on canvas

Umberto Boccioni and Continuity

"Let us fling open the figure and let it incorporate within itself whatever may surround it."

Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni, 

Unique Forms of Continuity and Space, 

1913, Bronze

Unique Forms of Continuity and Space (1913) is a sculpture that does not depict the human figure as one solid form but rather as multiple planes in spaces (White, 1998). Boccioni’s marching figure symbolises sheer force and power in its long stride and its bronze silhouette is distorted by imaginary wind and velocity. Its polished, aerodynamic surfaces undeniably represents the sleek machinery of the age that he lived in (The Museum of Modern Art, 2006). Its organic edges maintain continuity of the Futurist theme throughout the entirety of its form.

After the War

However, after the brutality that World War I inflicted upon the world, everyone began to shun away the Futurist movement and other pre-war avante-garde notions as the bad reputation of fascism had stuck onto them (Tate, 2009). Thus, the traditional approach to art returned once again.

References

Casden, E. (2015). Italian Futurism: An Introduction. [online] Khan Academy. Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/wwi-dada/art-great-war/a/italian-futurism-an-introduction [Accessed 4 Jun. 2017].

Encyclopedia Britannica. (1998). Giacomo Balla | Italian artist. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giacomo-Balla#ref106649 [Accessed 4 Jun. 2017].

Tate. (2009). Futurism – Art Term | Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/futurism [Accessed 4 Jun. 2017].

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum. (2017). Umberto Boccioni | Unique Forms of Continuity in Space | The Met. [online] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/485540 [Accessed 4 Jun. 2017].

The Museum of Modern Art. (2006). Umberto Boccioni. Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. 1913 (cast 1931) | MoMA. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81179 [Accessed 4 Jun. 2017].

White, J. (1998). Futurism | the arts. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/Futurism [Accessed 4 Jun. 2017].