Futurism: What It Is, And Characteristics Of This Artistic Movement
It is very likely that you have heard the phrase that says that a racing car is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace. It is included in the first manifesto of the Futurist movement, published in the French magazine Figaro in January 1909. The phrase remains curious even in the 21st century, when we have already left the concept of classical beauty far behind.
Who were the futurists? What was the context in which they emerged? In this article We are going to outline a brief history of futurism and its main artists
At the end of the 19th century, the so-called “social verism” triumphed in Italy, which made a crude denunciation of the situation of the working class. It is the time of anarchism and social upheavals, which shake the foundations of the bourgeoisie.
In this climate of struggle and confrontation, some young people, most of them from anarchist and communist circles, decide to found a new artistic movement. Fed up with the constriction into which “official” art has fallen, as well as the privileged situation and immobility of the upper classes and the Church, they set their sights on an art with a vocation for modernity, for the “future.”
Thus, his first manifesto, published in 1909, is a clear declaration of intentions; The “old” no longer has a place in the art world, nor do classical and academic values, related to that outdated and obsolete art. They consider that Italy has always suffered from what they call “pasatismo”, that is, an obsession with the past (passato), the main obstacle to their advancement as a people. The futurists propose, therefore, a new way of making art, much more in line with the new times.
The importance of futurism goes far beyond being a simple aesthetic renovation; As we will see later, it also supposes an ideology, a current of thought closely related to social reality and the future of the Italian Republic. Besides, The futurist manifesto of 1909 is the first of the avant-garde manifestos which represents a true revolution in the history of art.
And what are these new times? It is the era of the first automobiles, the first air flights, the growth of factories and mass production. Futurists see the world as always in motion ; In fact, this must be a feverish, crazy movement, like the movement of a racing car.
The city itself is immersed in a constant acceleration: the rhythms of the new times rush, the human centers twist and explode in all directions. The future is speed, dynamism, change.
For the futurists, there is no speed without mechanical progress Nor does the future or modernity exist without it. That is the motto of the futurists, who in this way merge the concept of “progress” with the advancement of technology. There is no longer time for undaunted classical statues, or for balanced and restful compositions: the 20th century must be the century of revolution, of dynamics, of running without barely catching one’s breath.
Thus, the compositions are inspired by the realities of the century that begins. The futurist Umberto Boccioni painted the canvas between 1910 and 1911 The city riseswhich was presented at the Free art exhibition from Milan as I work (“The job”).
In the painting we can see some workers and horses, confusingly mixed in quick brush strokes that try to capture the bustle of work.
For his part, the futurist Giacomo Balla also left us one of the most representative paintings of the movement, the famous Girl running on the balcony (or on the stairs, according to some sources), which tries to capture the rapid movement of a girl in the middle of a race. To do this, Balla uses a technique inspired by the newborn cinematographer: she paints “repetitions” of the girl on the canvas, so that the eye has the sensation that she is moving.
The representation of acceleration, electric light and speed was a real challenge for futurists Because how do you capture something intangible on an immobile support? The solutions found by the different artists are heterogeneous and very varied: from loose brushstrokes reminiscent of the Impressionist movement, to the divisionism that the Fauves also used. For all these reasons, futurism was, as many critics have maintained, a movement that was more vindictive than practical and, above all, loaded with political ideology.
An ideological current
If the futurist group has gone down in history for anything, it is because it is closely linked to Italian fascism and the figure of Mussolini. And it is that In futurist ideology we find concepts closely linked to the discourse of hate and violence ; For example, in the aforementioned 1909 manifesto, it was said that no masterpiece could be a masterpiece if it were not “aggressive.” Similarly, the manifesto called for burning down all the museums (in the height of their aversion to everything traditional) and, at the threshold of the First World War, the futurists maintained that war was “social hygiene”, the only means for the construction of a new world.
The main standard bearer of this violent ideology was Filippo Tomasso Marinetti (1876-1944), the leader of the movement. A symbolist poet, he himself tells how, after an accident he suffered with his car while trying to avoid some cyclists, he had a kind of enlightenment that led him to write the first manifesto. These new ideas revolved around the exaltation of the world of machines and the love of risk and recklessness, personified in speed. Marinetti expressed his ideals through provocative, violent and tremendously exalted language, which was also not too far from the language used by anarchist radicals.
Another point in common that the futurists had with the newborn Italian fascism was their exacerbated nationalism The futurists, and Marinetti in particular, wanted to build a new Italy, and to do so they saw the war as an opportunity to demonstrate the “lost” bravery and courage of the Italians. Needless to say, the passing of the First World War somewhat swept this “bravery” from their mouths; many of the artists did not return from the front. Those who remained joined, like many others, to Mussolini’s fascists; especially, Marinetti.
Futurism outside Italy
Although futurism is linked to Italy, The movement had a notable influence in pre-revolutionary Russia, especially in the constructivism of painters such as Vladimir Mayakovksi (1893-1930). In 1912, he and some of his companions signed the manifesto Slap to the public’s tastewith a fairly explicit title, in which they put in writing the foundations of Russian Futurism, just as the Italian Futurists had done in 1909.
However, the similarity between both currents did not go beyond certain aesthetic characteristics and their intention to stir up society. Because Mayakovsky was, unlike Marinetti, a firm anti-war, and the Italian’s war propaganda made him nauseous. Furthermore, the Italian Futurists leaned more towards an anti-imperialist revolutionary ideology, which openly clashed with Mussolini’s fascism.
One of the most important painters of the movement in Russia was Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962) who, during his futurist period, produced works such as the famous Cyclist (1913), which recovers the idea of dynamism and speed so voiced by Marinetti and his people.
