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THE MANIFESTO
“Destroy the museums, the libraries, every type of academy the great crowds, shaken by work, by pleasure or by rioting”, We will glorify war – the world’s only hygiene – militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman”
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INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 Background
CHAPTER 2 What was Futurism about? Key Players
CHAPTER 3 Painting Sculpture
CHAPTER 4 Architecture
CHAPTER 5 Graphics and Typography
CHAPTER 6 Film and Performance
CHAPTER 7 Suprematism and Vottism
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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INTRODUCTION
This book aims to explore and discuss Futurism, an art and design movement, which was established in Italy 1909. It will discuss main elements of the movement such as art, design and media, adding in comparisons of other art movements such as Suprematism and Vortism. Key players such as Filippo Tommaso Marinetti will be a large contribution in this area and the information will aim to reveal their identity and job role in Futurism. The book shall also examine the history and background of Italy in the 1900’s with political, social and cultural context. For this book to effectively explore and discuss Futurism it must first investigate the aspects of the movement as a whole; the origins of the movement, the key figureheads, the work produced and the work of similar movements i.e. Suprematism. The dissection of each movement will outline the influences and beliefs of the artists and designers involved and how this affected the work produced. The links between Futurism, Suprematism and Vorticism will be outlined; their place of origin, styles of design, how the key figures influenced their movements and how they helped to influence others. Futurism originated from Italy,
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Suprematism from Russia and Vorticism in Britain. The contrast between the origins of these three art movements allows for great analysis and comparison of the work and political figureheads who were driving them. After gathering reliable research from a range of resources including books, newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Each separate movement will be deconstructed to accurately find the events that kick started each of them and the key figures that drove them forward, producing the work they did. After every aspect of each movement is analysed these can then be summarised into the main focal points; who started the movement, the most influential pieces of work produced, what influenced the artist’s and designer’s work and how each movement influenced other similar movements.
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BACKGROUND
This chapter focuses on the historical background of Italy 1900 and explores why Italy, in particular Futurists strived to joined World War 1. It also presents the economical results of war and the political aims of Fascists. In 1910 Italy had an underdeveloped industry and was divided into many fractions. Italy was weak and vulnerable compared to greater Empires such as Britain. The Italians had imperialistic dreams of rebuilding the Roman Empire, incorporating that with the strong nationalist belief of Marinetti, together with other artists they aimed to create an entire new society. Publishing manifestos was a feature of the Futurism movement. Included in the piece states Futurists “glorified war� and they believed that only war could unite Italy and make them strong and powerful once again. In 1914 during the Futurist art movement World War I broke out. It was an extremely bloody war that lasted until 1919. After the war Italy suffered several crises. These consisted of food shortages, mass-unemployment and homelessness. The peace settlement left Italians extremely dissatisfied taking away many dreams and hopes of a new life. They wanted a strong leader who could mobilize them and improve their living conditions. Middle-class university students and other intellectuals joined
for nationalist and anti-democratic sentiment. They wanted somebody who would appeal to their sense of nationalism leading to the rise of Benito Mussolini in 1922.Fascism is a radical, authoritarian, nationalist political ideology. With the concept of totalitarianism, Mussolini and the Fascist regime set an agenda of improving the Italian culture and society based on ancient Rome, personal dictatorship, and some futurist aspects of Italian intellectuals and artists. After coming to power, Mussolini gradually moved towards a dictatorship. Between 1925 and 1926 he removed all non-Fascists from his cabinet, dissolved opposition parties and independent labour unions. Banned newspapers that were critical of him and established a secret police
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to root out and crush those who were opposed to Fascism. In 1927 he launched the ‘battle of the births’ to increase Italy’s population. It consisted of propaganda and some financial incentives to try and persuade women to have more children. Nevertheless the Italian birth rate continued to fall. The population of Italy did increase but only because of a fall in the death rate. Many Italian Futurists supported Fascism in the hope of modernizing a country. Mussolini’s main objective was to boost the economy. He tried to stimulate industries by controlling them. Italy had a lack of industrial resources, which only deepened the problem. Many people thought that Italian fascism and their control over industries had a negative impact on their development and made them even weaker than before the war. In 1930
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worldwide depression began, initiated by the Wall Street Crash in 24th October 1929, which was known as Black Thursday. The industrial segment had the biggest impact and was damaged deeply by the depression. It forced the Italian government to take over many companies to avoid bankruptcy. The Fascists put Italy into economical depression causing plans of war provoked by Mussolini to stop the misery. Mussolini wanted a nation of warriors to integrate Fascism into all aspects of life. Many Italian Futurists supported Fascism in the hope of modernizing a country. Propaganda slogans were promoting biased words such as “Believe! Obey! Fight!” and “Mussolini is always right”. War was glorified with the slogan “A minute on the battlefield is worth a lifetime of peace”. Individualism
was rejected in favour of group identity. Under such a totalitarian society, only Fascists would be considered “true Italians� and membership and endorsement of the Fascist Party was necessary, those who did not swear allegiance to Fascism were banished from public life and could not be employed.
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A.C. Puchetti. Il Fascismo Scientifico. 1926.
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FUTURISM?
Futurism was an art and design movement founded in 1909, which glorified and emphasised themes in relation to contemporary concepts of the future including speed, technology, youth and violence. Futurism influenced art movements such as Art Deco, Constructivism, Surrealism, Dada and many others. Futurists practised in every medium of art, including painting, graphic design, interior design, architecture, sculpture, ceramics, theatre, film, fashion and even gastronomy. It began when the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti a young activist, first released the Futurist Manifesto in Milan 5th of Feb, soon to be published in the French paper Le Figaro February 20th 1909. Marinetti, who founded the movement, was a determined man who believed the world needed transforming into a modern life. Futurist’s aims were to ‘transform the mentality of an anachronistic society’. According to his sources, “Futurism was born as a direct consequence of a 1908 car crash in which attempting to avoid two cyclists, he crashed his Bugatti and went head over heels into a ditch” (Graphic Design History), The experience led directly to the first futurist manifesto ‘Manifeste de fondation du Futurisme’ written by himself, in which was published in Paris 1909 in the French paper Le Figaro. This bold manifesto stated that
Futurists should “fight morality, feminism and all opportunist and utilitarian cowardice”. It also emphasized ‘the beauty of speed’ and the desire to ‘glorify war — the only cure for the world’ key elements of Futurism. Marinetti’s ideas were first extended to art in the 1910 manifesto and later spread to all avenues of life to promote a modern ‘futurist culture’ which then involved language and punctuation. In 1918 Marinetti founded the Futurist Political Party, which become part of National Fascist Party. He supported Italian Fascism until his death in 1944. Futurists association with Fascism brought them official acceptance in Italy and the ability to carry out large projects based around art.
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Another key artist was Umberto Boccioni, an Italian painter, sculptor, printmaker and writer who first met the other members in Paris. He helped shape the movement’s aesthetic as a theorist as well as through his art. Previous to this, Boccioni produced commercial work and was unclear on what direction his work was going in. In 1907 Boccioni began thinking ‘futuristically’ and stated ‘I feel that I want to paint the new, the fruit of our industrial age’. After meeting the others he co-wrote the 1910 manifesto and began to adopt Futuristic elements in his art. In 1911 whilst exhibiting in Paris his painting came under attack being labeled as ‘sentimental and puerile’ by the influential French critic Apollinaire. Boccioni had a short futuristic career, and died in 1916 during a routine exercise with his
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cavalry regiment. Whilst in Paris, Carlo Carra met Boccioni along with Russolo who both later helped write the 1910 manifesto. Carra was an interesting character as despite his clear involvement and public commitment to futuristic ideas (i.e. the signing of the manifestos) he continued to use other art movements as inspiration such as Divisionism and Cubism. Severini was another signatory of the 1912 manifesto. Despite signing the document, Severini he had a gentler nature than the rest of the Futurists, and therefore focused less on the attack of feminists and instead preferred the element of speed and the ‘violent rejection of the past’. Severini adored his home Paris, so acted as a correspondent for the futurists back in Italy. His immersion in the Parisian culture led to many of his paintings representing joyful
Umberto Boccioni Milan, Italy 1914
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Gino Severini Milan, Italy 1914
Carlo Carra Milan, Italy
Luigi Russolo 1916
Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster
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Giacomo Balla Milan, Italy 1914
Parisian life rather than uprisings and riots, such as the famous ‘The dance of the PanPan’, a painting labeled as “one of the most important works to come from a futurist brush to date”. Giacomo Balla was a self-taught artist who upon returning from visiting Paris in 1900 then taught both Severini and Boccioni. Balla’s early influences were the Italian Divisionist’s, and his early paintings were mainly portraits and landscapes. He later became increasingly interested in painting modern industrial life and signed the Technical Manifesto of futurist painting in 1910. Despite signing it, Balla only took an active part in the movement in 1912 when he flourished and ‘rapidly became one of the most original and inventive of the futurist painters’.
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ART WORK
The early stages of Futurism, Futurist paintings were mainly focused on abstract expressionism, as it was the height of Italian artists, due to works of the Milanese painters. It focused primarily with the expression of emotion. Boccioni adapted to this style, which is shown in works such as Mouring. Similar to this in a sense that the technique is based more on Divionism rather than ‘Futurist’ is Russolo’s Perfume and Carra’s Nocturne in the Piazza Beccaria. Soon after this phase, Futurist paintings caught on to the influence of Balla and paid attention to social themes, both in terms of the tensions, disruptions and riots of the time of social upheaval in Italy. For example Umberto Boccioni riot in the Galleria 1910 and The City Rises were his attempt at a great synthesis of labour, light and movement. Divisionism in paintings was the practice of separating colour into individual dots or strokes of pigment. It formed the technical bases for Neo-Impressionism. Following the rules of contemporary colour theory, Neo-Impressionist artists such as Georges Seurat applied contrasting dots of colour side by side so that, when seen from a distance, these dots would blend creating a whole image. As seen in The Riot in Galleria 1910 by Umberto Boccioni, this painting was deliberately Divionist. The lights and the rush of figures moving inwards are the devices for the
Manifesto. It gives the illusion of placing the observer in the centre of the picture. Comparing these paintings. Carra confined himself to the rather less intense sensations creating pieces such as City Streets and his Leaving the Theatre. In Leaving the Theatre the idea of the muffled figures tilting away from the centre of the piece gives the audience sensations of being in the middle of the dispersing crowd. The blurred effect gives the sense of movement, fleeting away in which adds to the effect of putting yourself in the painting. In contrast to this, Russolo was the first of the group to use precise images from the Manifesto in his work. His Memories of the Night (painted early 1911) was an unwieldy picture of sorts, though it was the first real attempt for
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“We Futurists strive with the force of intuition to insert ourselves into the midst of things in such a fashion that out self forms a single complex with their identities�
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(Carlo Carra. Futurism Pg. 55)
putting the ideas of the Technical Manifesto into practice. The images were superimposed on one another and he uses a ‘psychological perspective’ encouraged by Ardengo Soffici. From this Futurists introduced their art movement to France with their impact on Cubism, later to become Cubo-Futurisum. Seen in the Umberto Boccioni painting Dynamism Of The Football Player and State of Mind. It displays the combination of both styles by transforming rigid and stable, to energetic, dynamic power. This conflict of both styles is also visualized in Boccioni’s Materia (Matter) and Carlo Carra’s Simultaneity. They both show how their style was affected an altered by Cubism, showing the search to find a balanced combination that works for them. The first fruits of Futurist painting were seen at the enormous Free Exhibition in Milan in April 1911 as mentioned in Chapter 7 Pg. 2. Umberto Boccioni exhibited a series of paintings called the ‘State of Mind; Those Farewells, Those Who Stay and Those Who Go.’ The notion of ‘State of Mind’ like ‘Universal Dynamism’ was shared among the Futurist painters. They were an ambitious attempt to shake of dependence on descriptive reality and to capture the essence of emotion by forcing ‘colours and forms … to express themselves’. Boccioni painted two versions the first in early summer 1911 and the second in the late autumn. The second version showed his clear inspiration gained from Paris and displays the combination of Cubism grid and structure with the emotive directional lines of Futurist painting. From this, in a more complex ‘state of mind’ painting Severini creates
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Memories of a Journey, which illustrated a more Futurist theme. Gino Severini was the first to use the technique of free-wording painting, in such compositions as The Snake Dance (reproduced in Lacerba 1, July 1914), but it lent itself well to the purpose of political agitation which absorbed the energies of the Futurists in 1914, and its propaganda possibilities were almost immediately exploited to support the Futurists anti-Austrian rallies and interventionist demonstrations in the months of frenzied political excitements between the outbreak of the war and Italy’s intervention in it. (Rye, J. 1972 Pg. 90-92). “We Futurists strive with the force of intuition to insert ourselves into the midst of things in such a fashion that our “self” forms a single complex with their identities” (Carlo Carra. Futurism Pg. 55) Throughout artists strived to display their affection
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and interest in speed and noise. This passion is shown in their Manifesto. Paintings such as study of Dynamism of a Cyclist by Boccioni, shows his search for a new way of expression of movement and speed. Giamcomo Balla had an analytical study of movement in Leash in Motion and Rhythm of a Violinist in 1912. His study of objects in motion came together with his quasi-scientific investigation of the construction of light in series of abstract works, which he called Iridescent Interpenetrations. Balla also had an interest in investigating other Futurist themes especially Motorcars. This then lead to the production of Abstract Speed –wake of a speeding automobile where he represented diagrammatic expressions of velocity.
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