Artist’s Spotlight:
Umberto Boccioni was an Italian artist active in the early 20th century and is known as one of the founders of the revolutionary art movement, ‘Futurism’. As a country, Italy was behind other major powers industrially and represented the past in its deep-rooted classical history, il passatismo, and iconic classical masters like Caravaggio and Da Vinci. Therefore, in direct opposition to this history a number of artists, including Boccioni and Marinetti, founded Futurism. In their manifesto, the poet Marinetti declared that they '[would] free Italy from the innumerable museums which cover her like countless cemeteries.'
This freedom would come from machinery and the beauty of modernism and inventions, ‘A racing motor car… is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace [a lauded ancient Greek sculpture].’ Therefore, artists chose untraditional subjects, like cars and trains, or, with the rise of the First World War, weaponry.
Whilst Futurism is primarily associated with paintings, perhaps the most famous futurist piece - and certainly Boccioni’s - is a sculpture. Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913) depicts an almost unrecognisable human figure which truly challenges past representations of the human form. Boccioni creates a sense of movement through the fluidity of the bronze, with abstract waves coming off the body.
The bronze catches the light on each angle, further adding dynamism as the figure contrasts the sturdy blocks it stands upon. He draws inspiration from Cubism as fragments form a seemingly dehumanised face, used as an aerodynamic, machine-like and strong piece of sculpture.
Image: Flickr
ARTE E CULTURA
ARTE E CULTURA