Art and design is where it is today because of
time of fear, rejection, shock, upheaval and war. The
its past. Without daring experiments, the pushing of
world was moving faster than it was a decade earlier
boundaries, the breaking of rules and the ability to
and many people rejected the change. Futurism
think critically and conceptually, the art of art would
embraced the change. Futurists were fascinated with
have faded with time. Like anything else, art has
the idea of speed, motion, rhythm and the growth
evolved. It changes with time, people, culture and
of the city. They supported the rejection of the past,
situations and although some may disagree there
the acceptance of the future and the idea that war
is no wrong way to create it. Art is expression and
was a good way to solve problems and clean up
expression is volatile and limitless. Art demonstrates
the world. Futurism often illustrated the turmoil of
that every single one of us sees the world differently
change that was occurring, the battle between man
and that beauty truly lies in the eye of the beholder.
and machine. It also was another stepping stone
Futurism is no exception. In the bigger picture
toward non-objective art and the idea that emotion
of art Futurism is often overlooked and forgotten
could be expressed through line and color.
simply because it lacks the fame that some of the
This exhibit features ten Futurist painters. Five
other “isms� have. However, it deserves the proper
of them are Russian women and five of them are
recognition because its ideals introduced a new way
Italian men. This group of artists demonstrates how
of thinking and its artists were heavy influences on
different expression can be between gender and
later forms of art such as Suprematism and Con-
culture. All of these artists are classified as Futurists,
structivism.
however they all have a different style and view. Al-
Futurism came about during a time of dras-
though Futurism is not as well known as some other
tic change. Europe and North America were in the
stylistic movements, it is imperative we remember it
middle of an industrial revolution. The idea of mass
and learn from it. It is part of the chain reaction that
production and the use of heavy machinery to per-
got us to where we are today and it deserves to be
form difficult tasks was becoming a reality. It was a
recognized as so. -Annmarie Barlow Curator
RUSSIAN
Alexandra Exter Natalia Goncharova Liubove Popova Olga Rozanova Nadezhda Udaltsova
FUTURISM
ALEXANDRA EXTER Alexandra Exter was born in the Ukraine and grew up in Kiev. She also attended art school in Kiev and although she moved around a lot in her life she
and Futurism combined with Russian and Ukrainian subject matter. Although Exter acknowledged the value of Ital-
always returned there. The city of Kiev was a large
ian Futurism, she did not fully embrace its doctrine.
influence on Exter’s work. Throughout her life there
Exter was not interested in the “vehicle hurtling
Exter developed a love for Ukranian folk culture,
through space that so fascinated Boccioni and his
which she studied, promoted and even exhibited.
colleagues”. Exter’s work is characteristic of explo-
In the fall of 1907 Exter went to Paris. At the
sive color and dynamic movement, yet her paintings
time, Cubism was becoming a notable style and Ex-
do not feel chaotic. Instead, her paintings feel like
ter recognized its potential. She had the opportunity
careful arrangements of form and color based off of
to meet artists Picasso and Braque. In her encounters
aesthetic principals.
with Braque and Picasso Exter discovered partial
In Still-Life with Eggs we see that careful ar-
answers to problems surrounding the relationship
rangement and Exter’s love for Ukrainian folklore.
between surface and volume, form and texture and
There is the spirit of folk murals, traditional em-
composition and rhythm. However, Exter did not
broideries and Easter table decorations painted in
agree with how Cubists used color.
a non-objective Futurist manner. Exter also heavily
Color was extremely important to her Exter’s
influenced the art of stage and costume design by
work. Exter did not introduce the term “Cubo-Futur-
bringing Cubism into the discipline of theater.
ism” and was not even around Russia when the term
Ester was more than an artist; she was an
was coined. Nevertheless Exter utilized “Cubo-Futur-
inventor, a discoverer, an intellectual and a teacher.
ism” and tried to adapt it to the demands of Russian
She was not afraid to go looking for new things
art. At the time Russian art leaned toward the artis-
but never forgot where she came from. She will be
tic styles of Gleizes, Metzinger and Le Fauconnier.
remembered not only for her art but also for her
Therefore Exter’s art became a mixture of Cubism
versatility and ambition.
NATALIA GONCHAROVA Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova was born on
However, she completed the studio exercises she
June 21, 1881 in the village of Nagaevo. Her father
would have needed to finish her schooling at the
was an architect and her immediate family was well
Moscow Institute. While at the Moscow Institute
educated. Growing up, Goncharova was educated by
she met Larionov who became her most influential
her mother and grandmother. When Goncharova was
instructor and eventually her husband many years
twelve she attended the Fourth Women’s Gymna-
later. Larionov showed Goncharova the advent-garde
sium until she graduated in 1898. Goncharova tried
exhibitions organized in Moscow.
several different career paths including history, zool-
Goncharova’s work as whole incorporated both
ogy, botany and medicine. She eventually decided
Eastern and Western traditions and it initiated mul-
to become a sculptor and she attended the Moscow
tiple movements and manifestos including Cubo-Fu-
Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in
turism. The Cyclist is oil on canvas done in 1913 and
the fall of 1901. Spending time in both the country and city,
it is regarded as a very conventional Futurist painting in both Goncharova’s body of work as a whole and in
Goncharova was torn between the two. The contra-
Russian art of the early 1900s. It has typical Futur-
diction between the fast paced urban life of Moscow
ist features such as repetition, displacement of the
and the slow simple life of the country was a heavy
shapes of the figure and the injection of fragmented
influence on Goncharova’s work. Goncharova’s early
street signs. It differs from Italian Futurism because
work with pastels and painting reflect the rural
the composition of the painting is both horizontally
environment of her family’s countryside estate. She
and vertically balanced.
was most intrigued by the peasants and servant’s daily activities. Goncharova had training in the visual arts at
Goncharova was extremely influential artist in not only Russian Futurism, but also in Russian Art because she was more than just an artist of her time.
both the art institute and in independent studios.
Her ideals and aesthetics were carried on and her
She withdrew from the Moscow Institute in 1909.
work is still honored and admired today.
LIUBOVE POPOVA Liubove Popova grew up in a well-educated mer-
work. However, Popova’s method changed after she
chant family. Popova always had a strong interest in
saw Cubo-Futurist paintings such as Malevich’s The
art and particularly Italian Renaissance painting. Her
Knife-Grinder and Goncharova’s The Bicyclist.
interest in Italian Renaissance painting is seen in her
Popova was extremely interested in the way
abstract paintings from 1916 to 1917. Renaissance
those two paintings conflicted two different forms
characteristics in her abstract paintings include a
of energy and combined the perception of the object
highly accurate sense of up and down, frontal focus
with its environment. She began to experiment with
in the structure of form, and close attention to fore-
abstract patterns and rhythms and created her on
ground and/or surface. The center of Popova’s com-
Cubo-Futurist works. In Popova’s Cubo-Futurist
position is often fixed and relationships are defined
works we see an adequate balance between the
by proportion. One of the most impressive attributes
“centrifugal” and the “centripetal”. These paintings
of Popova’s work was the way she combined the
also demonstrate an agreement between body, ob-
style of Russian art with the style of Italian Renais-
ject and negative space, which set them apart from
sance painting.
French Cubism.
At the same time she visited St. Petersburg to
The Pianist demonstrates the difference in
study Italian Renaissance painting she also visited
interpretation of Cubist form and space between the
the ancient cities of Russia including Kiev, No-
Russians and the French. The Pianist has a fron-
vogorod, Pskov, Yaroslavl, Rostov and Suzdal. After
tal view of the face while the hand is shown from
studying both styles of art, Popova discovered, using
the side and the keyboard is shown from above.
her own logic based off of color contrast and numer-
Popova’s work eventually evolved into a Supremist/
ical relationships, that the art of Old Russia and Ital-
Constructivist style in the same way the Malevich’s
ian Renaissance painting shared classical logic on an
did. However her work maintained the “centrifugal”
abstract level. Popova was inspired by not only the
and “centripetal” nature that was characteristic of
common logic, but also the religious subject matter,
Cubo-Futurism. Popova’s work changed several
the wooden boards on which the art was painted,
times in her life and her diverse body of work stands
nature and the human figure. The human figure and
today as a reflection of her versatility as both an art-
nature underwent rigorous transformations in her
ist and a person.
ITALIAN
Giacomo Balla Umberto Boccini Carlo Carra Luigi Russolo Gino Severini
FUTURISM
GIACOMO BALLA Giacomo Balla was a Futurist but his work
a new abstract language to the service of the Futur-
belongs in a category all its own. He was ahead of
ist desire to capture the simultaneity of everyday
his time experimenting with artificial light and its
life focused on political aspirations”. Girl Running
association with machinery, an attribute that would
on Balcony illustrates Balla’s studies on “how light
become symbolic of Futurism style. In his work we
dematerializes bodies in action”. The blocks of color
see everything from pictorial components to the
poured over the surface give the painting a mosaic
introduction of an abstract language, all under the
look. Here we see Balla’s style of repeated fragments
category of Futurism.
with a serious of repeating heads, legs, railing and
Balla was not affected nor inspired by Cub-
skits. The color blocks distract the viewer from notic-
ism, nor was he interested in the conflict between
ing the precise position of the girl’s sprint. Every-
man and machine. He was strictly concerned with
thing that is happening in this scene is occurring
“presenting one fragmented episode in a continuum
simultaneously, there is no elapsed time. However,
of motion. He concentrated on how a dachshund
this is contradictory because we as the viewer know
scurries, a violinist plays and a girl runs”. In his work
that this event took place over a period of time. As
you see “units of progression” used to illustrate the
a result, Balla creates a “generalized space, neither
particular activity. Balla was very precise in determin-
illusively deep nor palpably flat, lacking planes yet
ing which elements needed to be repeated and over-
avoiding openness”.
lapped to express “motor activity”. He had a much
Balla never fully accepted all the fundamentals
more “sensory” approach to imitating force lines as
of Futurism but rather molded the fundamentals
opposed to an emotional or intellectual one.
of Futurism to meet his stylistic needs. This ability
Force lines were a standard of Futurism that Balla had not fully accepted. Patriotic Demonstration, one of his interventionist paintings of 1915 “brought
allowed him to push the boundaries of Futurism as both a style and a way of thinking.
UMBERTO BOCCIONI Umberto Boccioni is often associated with and
lines and “dynamic compenetration of planes”. How-
known for his sculptures. However, his sculptures,
ever, there is still implied movement. In his second
although beautiful and impressive, were not his only
version of The Farewells Boccioni created volumes
contribution to Futurism. His triptych States of Mind
that appeared to revolve and outline the space oc-
is among his body of work as a Futurist painter.
cupied by a couple embracing, the presence of a
States of Mind shown at the first Futurist exhibi-
sitting locomotive and the heart-wrenching feeling
tion in Paris in 1912 alongside seven other pieces
that often comes with saying goodbye.
by Boccioni. The intention of these pieces was to
In the second versions of both Those Who Go
illustrate the feeling and movement of a crowd using
and Those Who Stay there is a blanket of lines in the
non-objective shapes. They were done in a Neo-
forground creating “prismatic” forms, which hide
Impressionistic style. The pieces play off the Futurist
the characters. In Those Who Go the diagonal blue
fundamental of simultaneity. Boccioni “renewed
lines produce motion traveling from left to right.
the Futurist enterprise: it was no longer a matter of
We see the dim lights inside the railway car and the
merely depicting the speed of a machine or the ef-
city fading into the distance through a window. The
fects of light, but of transcribing the movements of
painted faces are those of sleeping passengers, and
the soul at the heart of a separation punctuated by
their expressions reflect sadness. Those Who Stay
three related circumstances”.
is almost monochromatic. The static nature of the
The three circumstances that are referred to are
figures is expressed through the use of vertical lines.
The Farewells, Those Who Go and Those Who Stay,
The string of figures stretches from the bottom left
each one painted on a separate canvas. The railway
corner to the top right indicating the perspective of a
station, he train and the journey are all Futurist
person riding away on the train.
themes that show the interaction of man and the
Boccioni’s sculptural contributions to Futur-
mechanized world. These themes also evoke the
ism were masterpieces and were very influential to
bittersweet emotions associated with leaving. After
the style as a whole. However, one cannot forget
the exhibition in Paris, Boccioni painted the second
Boccioni’s paintings and his ability to express a vast
rendition of States of Mind in a much more Futurism
array of emotions on a single canvas.
style. In his second set of paintings there were force
NADEZHDA UDALTSOVA Nadezhda Udaltsova was surrounded by a lot of
She stood close by her aesthetic principles. The
tragedy in her life. Her mother died when she was
Restaurant for example shows Udaltsova’s ability
twenty-seven, her father was killed by the Bolsheviks
to incorporate form and lettering, light and shade
and her husband was killed also. The only thing
and relief and plane without sacrificing the
that kept Udaltsova going was her passion for art.
art of painting.
Udaltsova was born in 1885. In 1995 at the age of
Although Udaltsova was a Russian artist, the
twenty she enrolled in the art school of Konstantin
art of painting which was a European tradition,
Yuon and Ivan Dudin. A few years later in 1908
remained very important to her throughout her
Udaltsova visited the Shchukin collection. In that
career. She painted in terms of precise, conceptual,
same year she attempted to get into the Moscow
immense compositions. Udaltsova dwelled in Russia
Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, but
for the majority of her life, but her love for European
was not accepted. The following year Udaltsova stud-
art shows heavily in her work. A particular European
ied at La Palette in Paris under the direction of Henri
style that Udaltstova was receptive to was French
Le Fauconnier, Kean Metzinger and Andre Dunoyer
Cubism. Restaurant is an example of Udaltsova’s
de Segonzac. At La Palette Udaltsova studied the
Russian Cubo-Futurism work. However, it is said that
“grammar” of Cubism.
Restaurant has a “distinctive fan-shaped composi-
She returned to Moscow in 1914 at the age of
tion, echoing the volumetric-spatial structures of
29 where she debuted with fellow Russian Futurist,
Cubism”. Restaurant also has fragmented text, which
Liubov Popova, at an exhibition in Moscow called
is “introduced into the painting with the intention of
Jack of Diamonds. Udaltsova’s education in Cubism
evoking a series of sensations associated with life,
helped her tremendously and she accepted Cubism
noise, pulse and constantly changing impressions of
as a new way of thinking, making and interpreting
a large city “. These attributes are characteristic of
art. Udaltsovas treatment of space in her paintings
Italian Futurism once again we see Udaltsova’s love
from 1914-1915 sometimes resembled beehives.
and admiration for European art.