Futurism

2/3/2014

ART HISTORY 4450 Futurism

Futurism •

aim: – to turn away from past art and conventional procedures • “A roaring motor car, hurtling like a machine gun, is more beautiful than the Winged Victory of Samothrace” (Marinetti) – to concern himself with vital, noisy life of the burgeoning industrial city

•

agenda: political  Anarchy – to openly rebel against culture of Italian past – eliminate class element of aristocracy & dominance of bourgeoisie

•

manifestos : – F. T. Marinetti, front page of the Paris newspaper Le Figaro (February 1909) – “The Manifestos of Futurist Painters” (February 1910) – “Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto” (March 1910)

•

effect: revolutionary formal changes consistent w/ procedures set forth in Technical Manifesto

•

artists: Carra, Boccioni, Balla, Severini (living in Paris, was familiar with Cubism from the first)

1

2/3/2014

Futurism •

relationship to Cubism: – purpose and effect of Technical Manifesto w/ analytical procedures of Cubism were different – appropriated formal language of Cubism to serve own ends • fracturing of space & light • used words in paintings, not for their forms, as in Cubism, but as evocations of sounds and extra pictorial associations – made contact w/ Cubist painting in 1911 • first through publications • autumn trip to Paris under the guidance of Severini

•

principles: – “dynamism” as an expressive means – simultaneity of movement – emphasis on process rather than on things – emphasis upon intuition and its power to synthesize manifold experiences of sense and memory

•

exhibition history: – Milan (April 1911) – Bernheim Gallery in Paris (February 1912) – Boccioni sculpture in Paris (April 1912) – Severini personal exhibition in London (1913) – illustrated reports of exhibitions widespread (e.g., England, Germany, and Holland, American)

Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) •

•

•

•

training: – 1901: Rome • attends Accademia di Belle Arti • learns Divisionist techniques from Balla – 1902: Paris • studies Impressionism & PostImpressionism biography: – 1906: travels to Russia – 1906-07: moves to Venice – 1907: settles in Milan • associated w/ Carrà & meets poet Marinetti – 1910: helps formulate Futurist manifestos – 1911: Paris • meets Picasso/Apollinaire through Severini exhibition history: – 1912: first Futurist show in Paris • exhibition travels to London, Berlin, & Brussels – 1913: solo show of sculpture & paintings in Paris World War I: – July 1915: enlists in army w/ Marinetti – suffers accident during cavalry exercises – dies August 1916

2

2/3/2014

Boccioni’s Futurist The City Rises (1910)

Boccioni’s States of Mind: Farewell (1911)

3

2/3/2014

(Left) Turner’s Romantic Rain, Wind, & Steam (1844) vs. (right) Boccioni’s Futurist States of Mind: Farewell (1911)

(Left) Monet’s Impressionist Gare St. Lazare (1874) vs.

Boccioni’s Futurist States of Mind: Farewell (1911)

4

2/3/2014

Boccioni •

Elasticity (1912) – –

–

– –

–

theme: Rider of the Apocalypse subject: movement • literal horsepower • vigorous up-and-down, as well as forward motion • whereas in Cubism the spectator, by implication, moves around static objects, in a Futurist canvas spectator remains static while moving objects rush across field of vision setting: mechanized landscape • high-tension poles • factory chimneys spatial order: perspective retains quality of foreground & background forms: abstracted • splintered planes depend on Cubist analysis of solid and void • mass & volume shattered by dynamic energies of horse and rider color: vibrant primaries & complimentaries

Boccioni’s Dynamism of a Cyclist (1913)

5

2/3/2014

Boccioni

•

Dynamism of a Soccer Player (1912) – theme: pent-up energy of urban environment – composition: compact – spatial order: implodes – color: subdued primaries – light: fractures forms – forms: interpenetrate • lines of force • arabesque curves

Boccioni

•

Anti-graceful (1913) – – – – – –

medium: bronze aesthetic: anti-Classical aim: analytical portrayal of human face method: Cubist fracturing of planes form: to show planes extensions in space process: “systematization of the interpenetration of planes” • force-lines • arabesque curves

6

2/3/2014

Boccioni’s Development of a Bottle in Space (1913)

Boccioni

•

Continuity of Unique Forms in Space – – – – – – –

date: 1913 medium: bronze surface texture: polished aim: speed & dynamism of modern life aesthetic: Cubist fracturing of planes form: to make objects live by showing their extensions in space process: “systematization of the interpenetration of planes” • force-lines • arabesque curves

7

2/3/2014

(Left) BOCCIONI’s Unique Form of Continuity in Space (c. 1915 CE) vs. (right) Hellenistic Greek Winged Victory (c. 250 BCE)

Giacomo Balla (1871-1958) •

•

• • •

•

training: – studied briefly at Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti and the Liceo Artistico in Turin In 1891 – exhibited for the first time under the aegis of the Società Promotrice di Belle Arti – studied at the University (c. 1892) – moved to Rome (1895) • worked for several years as an illustrator, caricaturist, and portrait painter exhibition history: – work included in Venice Biennale (1899) – exhibited regularly for the next ten years in Esposizione internazionale di belle arti at the galleries of the Società degli Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti – in 1904, represented in Internationale Kunstausstellung in Dusseldorf – In1909, exhibited at Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1900, spent seven months in Paris about 1903, began to instruct Severini and Boccioni in divisionist painting techniques Futurist painting manifesto of 1910 – signed the second with Boccioni, Carrà, and Severini – although did not exhibit with the group until 1913 in 1912, traveled to London and Dusseldorf, where he began painting his abstract light studies

8

2/3/2014

Balla

•

Street Light (1910-11) – – – – – – –

theme: modernity setting: urban subject: electricity spatial order: flattened perspective forms: retain symbolic value, too color: vibrant primaries & complimentaries (see Divisionism) brushwork: logicality & rhythm of PostImpressionism

Balla

Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) – – – – – – –

issue: representing speed method: superimposing several images composition: dynamic color: monochromatic forms: silhouetted & cropped (see Degas) volumes: flattened spatial order: simultaneous high-angle and profile

9

2/3/2014

Balla’s Speeding Automobile (1912)

Balla’s Abstract Speed - The Car has Passed (1913)

10

2/3/2014

Balla’s Swifts: Paths of Movement + Dynamic Sequences (1913)

Gino Severini (1883-1966) •

•

•

training: – studied at Scuola Tecnica in Cortona – moving to Rome in 1899 • attended art classes at the Villa Medici • by 1901 met Boccioni • Together, Severini and Boccioni visited studio of Balla – introduced to painting w/ “divided” rather than mixed color settles in Paris in November 1906: – studied Impressionist painting – met Neo-Impressionist Paul Signac – came to know most of the Parisian avantgarde (e.g., painters Braque, Gris, & Picasso, as well as poets Apollinaire & Max Jacob) Futurism: – signed “Technical Manifesto” (April 1910), along w/ Balla, Boccioni & Carra – however, less attracted to subject of machine – frequently chose form of dancer to express Futurist theories of dynamism in art

11

2/3/2014

Severini’s Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin (1912)

Severini’s Suburban Train Arriving in Paris (1915)

12

2/3/2014

Severini

•

Armored Train (1915) – – – –

– –

subject: outbreak of WWI theme: speed & dynamism of mechanized world narrative: combat soldiers composition: synthetic • figures placed along central vertical axis • surrounding space penetrated by diagonals color: primaries & secondaries light: stylized

IMAGE INDEX •

Slide 4:

•

Slide 5:

•

Slide 6:

•

Slide 7:

•

Slide 8:

•

Slide 9:

•

Slide 10:

•

Slide 11:

BOCCIONI, Umberto. Detail from Self-Portrait (1908), Oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in., Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

BOCCIONI, Umberto. The City Rises (1910), Oil on canvas, 78 1/2 x 118 1/2 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

BOCCIONI, Umberto. States of Mind: Farewell (1911), Oil on canvas, 27 7/8 x 37 7/8 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

(Left) TURNER’s Romantic Rain, Wind, & Steam (1844) vs. (right) BOCCIONI’s Futurist States of Mind: Farewell (1911).

(Left) MONET’s Impressionist Gare St. Lazare (1874) vs.

BOCCIONI’s Futurist States of Mind: Farewell (1911).

BOCCIONI, Umberto. Elasticity (1912), Oil on canvas 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in., Collection Dr. Riccardo Jucker, Milan.

BOCCIONI, Umberto. Dynamism of a Cyclist (1913), Oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 35 3/8 in., Private collection.

BOCCIONI, Umberto. Dynamism of a Soccer Player (1913), Oil on canvas.

13

2/3/2014

IMAGE INDEX •

Slide 12:

•

Slide 13:

•

Slide 14:

•

Slide 15:

•

Slide 17:

•

Slide 18:

•

Slide 19:

•

Slide 20:

BOCCIONI, Umberto. Anti-graceful (1913), cast 1950-51, bronze, 23 x 20 1/2 x 20 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. BOCCIONI, Umberto. Development of a Bottle in Space (1913), Bronze, 15 x 24 x 13 in., Private collection.

BOCCIONI, Umberto. Unique Form of Continuity in Space (1913), Bronze, 126.4 x 89 x 40.6 cm., Private collection, Rome.

(Left) BOCCIONI’s Unique Form of Continuity in Space (c.

1915); and (right) Hellenistic Greek Winged Victory (c. 250 BC).

BALLA, Giacomo. Street Light (1910-11), Oil on canvas, 68 ¾ x 45 ¼ in., Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

BALLA, Giacomo. Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912), Oil on canvas, 35 3/8 x 43 1/4 in., Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.

BALLA, Giacomo. Speeding Automobile (1912), Oil on wood, 21 7/8 x 27 1/8 in., Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

BALLA, Giacomo. Abstract Speed – The Car has Passed (1913), Oil on canvas, 50.2 x 65.4 cm., Tate Gallery, London.

IMAGE INDEX •

Slide 21:

• •

Slide 22: Slide 23:

•

Slide 24:

•

Slide 25:

BALLA, Giacomo. Swifts: Paths of Movement + Dynamic Sequences (1913), 38 1/8 x 47 ¼ in., Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

Photograph of Gino SEVERINI. SEVERINI, Gino. Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin (1912), oil on canvas with sequins, 63 5/8 x 61 1/2 in., Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NY. SEVERINI, Gino. Suburban Train Arriving in Paris (1915), Oil on canvas, 88.6 x 115.6 cm., Tate Gallery, London.

SEVERINI, Gino. Armored Train (1915), Oil on canvas, 3’ 10” x 2’ 10 1/8”, Collection of Richard S. Zeisler, New York.

14