20th century
Everything You Must Know About Manifesto of Futurism
Futurism is one of those avant-garde movements of 20th century which left it’s mark on the modern art. It was not only an artistic but also.
Its key figures were the Italians Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla, Antonio Sant’Elia.
Futurists Luigi Russolo, Carlo Carrà, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni and Gino Severini in front of Le Figaro, Paris, February 9, 1912
It glorified modernity and aimed to liberate Italy from the weight of its past.
Futurism had its manifesto, which emphasizes all these values mentioned above. Here is everything you must know about Manifesto of Futurism
1. It was written by… a poet.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, author of the Futurist Manifesto.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti wasn’t an artist – he was a poet. He wrote the Manifesto in 1908 and it first appeared as a preface to a volume of his poems, published in Milan in January 1909. It was also published in the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dell’Emilia in Bologna on 5 February 1909, then in French as Manifeste du futurisme (Manifesto of Futurism) in the newspaper Le Figaro on 20 February 1909.
2. Futurists fought the past
Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913), Museum of Modern Art
For futurists, 19th century Italy was the synonym of everything horrible..
3. Futurist wanted literature to follow the progress
Gino Severini, 1912, Dancer at Pigalle, Baltimore Museum of Art
Futurists insist that literature will not be overtaken by progress; rather, it will absorb progress in its evolution, and will demonstrate that such progress must manifest in this manner because Man will use this progress to sincerely let his instinctive nature explode.
4. They loved not only progress but also speed
Giacomo Balla, 1912, Dinamismo di un Cane al Guinzaglio (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash), Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Man is reacting against the potentially overwhelming strength of progress, and shouts out his centrality. Man will use speed, not the opposite (art. 5 and 6).
5. For them, poetry was connected to the aggression
Umberto Boccioni, 1913, Dynamism of a Cyclist (Dinamismo di un ciclista), Gianni Mattioli Collection, on long-term loan to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
Poetry will help Man to consent his soul be part of all that (art. 6 and 7), indicating a new concept of beauty that will refer to the human instinct of aggression.
6. They demanded purification by war – which influenced fascism and chauvinism
Gino Severini, “Armored Train in Action” (1915).
In article 9,. F. T. Marinetti was very active in Fascist politics until he withdrew in protest of the “Roman Grandeur” which had come to dominate Fascist aesthetics.
7. They wanted to… BURN MUSEUMS
An example of Futurist architecture by Antonio Sant’Elia
Article 10 states: “We want to demolish museums and libraries, fight morality, feminism and all opportunist and utilitarian cowardice.”
Uhh!
8. The Manifesto says little about art itself
Fortunato Depero, Skyscrapers and Tunnels (Gratticieli e tunnel), 1930 (detail)
The founding manifesto did not contain a positive artistic programme, which the Futurists attempted to create in their subsequent Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting (1914). This committed them to a “universal dynamism”, which was to be directly represented in painting.
Here you can read the whole manifesto – although I really like futurism in an aesthetic way, some of these points sound like a nightmare.
MANIFESTO OF FUTURISM
- We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness.
- 2..
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