CHARACTERISTIC OF FUTURISM

CHARACTERISTIC OF FUTURISM

(1909-1914)

What is Futurism? - Characteristics

Futurism was an avant-garde art movement which was launched in Italy, in 1909, although parallel movements arose in Russia, England and elsewhere. It was one of the first important modern art movements not centred in Paris - one reason why it is not taken seriously in France. Futurism exalted the dynamism of the modern world, especially its science and technology. Futurist ideology influenced all types of art. It began in literature but spread to every medium, including painting, sculpture, industrial design, architecture, cinema and music. However, most of its major exponents were painters and the movement produced several important 20th century paintings. It ceased to be an aesthetic force in 1915, shortly after the start of the First World War, but lingered in Italy until the 1930s.

Futurist Sculpture

In 1912, Umberto Boccioni, the only sculptor among the Futurists, published his own Manifesto - Futurist Painting Sculpture: Plastic Dynamism (Pittura scultura Futuriste: Dinamismo plastico), which expounded his Bergson-type ideas on intuition, inner being and the relationship of form, motion and space. The following year Boccioni produced his masterpiece Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913, casts in MoMA New York, Tate London and elsewhere). This work vividly depicts the movement of the body, and illustrates his theory of "dynamism", a theme he also explored in other works like Synthesis of Human Dynamism (1912), Spiral Expansion of Speeding Muscles (1913) and Speeding Muscles (1913).

Futurism artists

Umberto Boccioni (1882 - 1916)

Kasimir Malevich (1878 - 1935)

Liubov Popova (1889 - 1924)

			Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo By Giacomo Balla. This image became an important influence on animation art later in the 20th century.
	Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913, casts in MoMA New York Tate London and elsewhere) Umberto Boccioni.