Futurism: The Art of Time, Cade W

Futurism - The Art of

Time Cade West, 2021

Everybody loves cubism. The simple abstraction of familiar scenes, such as a man playing chess or a group of musicians, is quite aesthetically pleasing. Few know, however, how Cubist pieces were abstracted- to achieve the effect, painters would often change the perspective they painted from and merged it in to their existing work. This simple process is what resulted in masterpieces such as those created by George Braque and Juan Gris. However, even fewer know of another art movement that formed in the shadow of Cubism. It used similar techniques- but with an interesting twist. This art movement is known simply as Futurism, and it uses the art of time. At first glance, Futurism can look rather similar to its more popular older brother, Cubism.

Both are typically abstracted scenes, and while Futurism had a tendency to depict technology and industrialization instead of everyday scenes, the two were still quite similar visually. The true distinctiveness of Futurism comes from its unique technique instead of its visual appeal. While Cubists abstracted their piece by simply changing their perspective, Futurists abstracted their pieces by observing the same object at different points in time. In some pieces, such as Giacomo Balla’s Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912), this is especially noticeable. This technique is almost entirely unique to the Futurist movement, and it certainly sets them apart from other movements at the time.