N a i l tA
I m s i R U t u F INN
G THE BE
ND
HE E T F O G IN
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ITIO D A R T OF
El Paso Museum of Art
SEPTEMBER 8 – DECEMBER 20, 2015
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effort to expose and overcome the spiritual and cultural stagnation
away from institutional artistic methods and social
of Italy. Futurists were known to be associated with fascism during
traditions. France and Northern Europe had taken
World War I. They saw that using strategies from radical politics
over the majority of the art scene in the western world
helped their cause to encourage belligerence. Their goal was to
during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
celebrate modern technology, glorify war, and break free from past
In turn, Italy became confined to old world styles.
artistic and political ideologies. Italian Futurism took the form of
By the beginning of the twentieth century, avant-
painting, sculpture, graphic design and architecture.
garde artists who called themselves “Futurists,�
had had enough of the formal, conventional ways of creating art. The impending Great War and the prevailing industrial revolution that was taking place in Great Britain and the United States was inspiring modern-deprived Futurists to express their anarchist sentiments. Their fascination with speed, noise, technology, and violence, steered their imaginations to new ways of expressing social and artistic views. Futurism began as a literary movement and swiftly grabbed the attention of visual artists. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet, began the Futurist movement in 1909 by publishing The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism in the popular Paris newspaper, Le Figaro. Marinetti lashed out against cultural tradition and called for the destruction of museums, libraries, and feminism. His manifesto sparked a revolution for change. Many artists began to write their own manifestos concerning visual arts and music. This new Futurist movement was the most systematized
LEFT: Antonio Sant'Elia, Umberto Boccioni, and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, 1915. END SHEETS: Gino Severini, Spherical Expansion of Light (Centrifugal), detail, 1914.
Le Figaro, featuring the Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, 1909.
The BegINNinG
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talian Futurism was a revolution that aimed to break
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Soon after the release of Marinetti’s manifesto in 1909, a group of painters who called themselves gruppo dirigent, joined together to co-write the Manifesto of the Futurist Painters. Painters from this group such as Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, and Gino Severini would soon find themselves leading the Futurist movement. Balla was one of the more widely known Futurist painters. One of Balla’s his own input by portraying motion in his paintings as seen in Dynamism of a Dog on Leash (Leash in Motion). Balla was highly interested in photography and the way photographs appeared when using a slow shutter speed. The ability to observe moving objects in a still picture plane influenced several Futurist artists to portray speed in their paintings, something rarely seen. Giacomo Balla, Dynamism of a Dog on Leash (Leash in Motion), 1912.
Cubism was another highly influential movement that Futurist painters, such as Gino Severini, were seeking ideas from. In his colorful geometric masterpiece, The Armored Train, Severini is clearly depicting his obsession with war. Living in Paris during the time of War World I, Severini would constantly witness trains transporting soldiers, supplies, and weapons. This piece portrays five faceless soldiers aiming their rifles at their enemy targets. The use of geometric forms and vivid colors was popular amongst Futurist painters.
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inspirations came from Post-Impressionist paintings. He added
We are FIGHTING
AGAINST the timidity and
symmetry of colours, colours which are arranged in wishy-washy patterns of idiotic spots and stripes. —GIACOMO BALLA
Two
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Giacomo Balla, Abstract Speed + Sound, 1913–1914.
Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises, 1910.
Gino Severini, The Armored Train, 1915.
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Giacomo Balla, Boccioni’s Fist–Lines of Force, 1915.
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Though Marinetti was the founder of the Italian Futurist movement, Umberto Boccioni was considered to be the leader of the Futurists. In 1912, Boccioni Sculpture, which emphasized on abstraction and the rejection of traditional marble nude statues. Boccioni lived for capturing the flux of life in the roaring sounds of airplanes and the hustle and bustle of city life with cars and trains sweeping through the landscape. Boccioni decided to incorporate the human figure with motion by sculpting Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. Its fiery wind-swept form exemplifies the movement and speed of this robotic figure. Originally created in plaster, the sculpture was later cast in shiny bronze emphasizing the modern machinery that the Futurists loved. Balla was also into creating dynamic sculptures. He had a strong belief in the suggestive power of abstract rhythms. In Boccioni’s Fist–Lines of Force, Balla experimented in creating a symbol that would embody the aggressive action that the Futurists stood for. The overall organic fierce form of this sculpture shows the hostile force
—UMBERTO BOCCIONI
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published the Technical Manifesto of Futurist
One must DESTROY the systematic use of the nude and the traditional concept of the statue and the monument.
of Futurism. Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913.
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towards the norm. Marinetti used dramatic and chaotic typographic design to illustrate his poems. He claimed that his poetic reforms were directly inspired by his experiences in the trenches during his service in war. He urged other poets to liberate themselves from the vertical and horizontal constraints of tradition. Marinetti created the typographically illustrated poem called Montagne + Vallate + Strade × Joffre (Mountains + Valleys + Streets × Joffre), to showcase a new form of poetry called parole in libertá meaning “words in freedom.” Interpretation of noise and speed in poetry were created by nonlinear text, math symbols, and the disposal of proper grammar. Marinetti’s poem designs would soon influence other visual artists who would take this idea to the next level. In the latter part of the Italian Futurist movement, graphic designer Fortunato Depero wrote the Manifesto of Futurist Advertising Art in 1931. During his career, he designed magazine covers for Emporium, La Revista, and Vogue in Italy. One of his illustrious works is an eighty-page catalogue of advertising designs called Depero Futurista. Bounded by metal bolts, this book contained illustrations of his untraditional approach to typographic design. In the terms of typography, Futurism broke the symmetry and tradition of the printed page by using multiple colors, typefaces, and text orientation.
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Futurist artists also used graphic design to express their ill content
Fortunato Depero, Vogue magazine cover, 1929.
We want to sing the love of DANGER, the habit of energy and rashness. —FILIPPO TOMMASO MARINETTI
Six
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Fortunato Depero, cover of Depero Futurista, 1927.
Fortunato Depero, page from Depero Futurista, 1927.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Montagne + Vallate + Strade Ă— Joffre, 1919.
SeVen
it declared decoration to be absurd and used dynamic diagonal and elliptic lines because of their emotional power. His designs
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depicted a city that would be energized by electricity and occupied with skyscrapers. It is unfortunate that his designs were not built. He had not been an architect for long when he died in battle during World War I.
Future architecture is the architecture of cold calculation,
BOLD AUDACITY, and simplicity —ANTONIO SANT’ELIA
Antonio Sant’Elia, Studio Per Centrale Elettrica, 1914.
One of the most notable Futurist architects was Antonio Sant’Elia. He created a group of sketches and plans for futuristic cities called Città Nuova (New City), which are still studied and admired to this day. Sant’Elia felt that a complete break with architectural styles of the past and historic solutions to urban design was needed. He wrote the Futurist Manifesto of Architecture in 1914, and in
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Antonio Sant’Elia, The New Station for Milan, 1914.
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The Italian Futurist movement would last thirty-five years
movements, such as Neo-Futurism and Cyberpunk, were spawned
until the death of its founder in 1944. During the time of
by the Futurists’ love of machines and technology. Futurist artistic
industrialization and war, young avant-garde artists such as
ideologies continue to resonate in the twenty-first century as artists
Marinetti, Depero, Boccioni, Balla, Severini, and Sant’Elia,
study the manifestos of their predecessors and attempt to create
were revolutionizing the art scene in Italy. Though they
their own artistic revolution.
Futurists still felt the need to revolutionize art and society. Some believed that agitation and destruction would end the Italy. The association with fascism has unfortunately tainted the movement, but their artistic ideologies continue to be admired. Contemporary graphic designer Paula Scher uses abstract typographic design in her work as seen in Great Beginnings, a spread in a promotional booklet. Her futurist influence is seen
The BEST ADVICE I’ve received is to
‘ILLUSTRATE WITH TYPE’ —PAULA SCHER
through the zig zag motion of words and the use of several different typefaces and sizes working together. Italian Futurism continues to be celebrated as Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space was featured on the golden twenty-cent Euro coin in 2002. New art
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status quo and allow for the regenerationof a stronger, energized
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were influenced by Cubism and Post-Impressionism, Italian
Twenty-cent Euro featuring Umberto Boccioni's, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 2002.
Paula Scher, Great Beginnings, 1984.
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