Imagining a Future: Early 20th Century Art in Italy

Defined as a social (rather than a political) movement, Futurism began in Italy in the early 20th Century. Much like many a political campaign, however, it had at its core a manifesto. This document, written by poet and art theorist Tommaso Marinetti, promoted an artistic philosophy that rejected the past and instead celebrated the speed, novelty, efficiency and even the violence of machinery and modern industry. It was, in this sense, an entirely forward-thinking movement and its principles were a declaration in favour of the rapid modernisation of Italy as a whole.

 

Amongst the movement’s leading figures were a number of artists including Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla and Carlo Carrà. Armed with Marinetti’s manifesto, they set about ‘liberating Italy from the weight of its past’ which, for them, meant turning away from the nation’s rich artistic heritage and developing anew approach to the practice of making art.

 

An early work by Umberto Boccioni entitled The City Rises (1910) demonstrates not only the Futurist’s active pursuit of this new way of seeing but also the importance of modern industry and development to them, not simply as a subject matter but as a future for Italy too. Boccioni’s painting, which centres upon a group of figures and horse-like creatures, is a frenzied whir of activity. In the background, a series of buildings under construction rises towards the sky. It is a painting filled with dynamism and tension. The outstretched arms of the figures, the taut tethers of the horses’ harnesses and the punctuation of the upright scaffolding poles all give a sense of the effort being exerted to bring about a new, modern city.

 

The Futurists’ vision extended far beyond depictions of modern industry and construction, however. Their innovative way of seeing and obsession for speed was applied to almost all aspects of life. Even the organic forms of a human walking a dog, as in Giacomo Balla’s Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912), were subjected to a Futurist interpretation. No doubt influenced by the chronophotographic studies of animals, first invented by Etienne-Jules Marey in the 1880s, this painting captures movement – something that would normally take place over a series of seconds or minutes – in a single frame. The dichotomic result is a still image filled with rapid motion. To be sure, we can easily understand the pace at which the figure is moving and the effort required from the dog to keep up with its owner. This work not only suggests an admiration for yet another relatively-modern invention – photography – but also implies that, at least in the Futurists’ mind, something as simple as one’s daily walk could be done with the utmost speed and efficiency. Just as Boccioni’s The City Rises was a proclamation in favour of productivity and an almost ruthlessly modern way of living, so too is Balla’s Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash a proposition for how lives in the ideal modern world should be led.

 

Perhaps the most famous and successfully ‘propagandistic’ Futurist artwork is Umberto Boccioni’s sculpture entitled Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913). It depicts a human-like figure in motion. For some people, its flayed limbs represent flames whilst for others, they are reminiscent of armour; whatever one’s interpretation, it is quite clearly an embodiment of intense movement. Indeed, perhaps aided by his choice in material, Boccioni has synthesised the very essence of motion, strength and power into a single ultra-modern being, yet one that is still (at least in part) recognisably human. Just as with the other Futurist artworks mentioned above, this sculpture straddles the duplicity of being both an artwork that is unquestionably progressive in its make-up and appearance (thereby adhering to the Futurist aesthetic) as well as an image that pushed the idea of modernity as the future.

 

The Futurists were nothing if not sure in their convictions and committed to their cause. Their efforts were not confined to purely artistic pursuits; their vision for a modern world encompassed food, music, literature, fashion and even cuisine (each of which had its own dedicated manifesto). Theirs was a ground-breaking movement and its duality, certainly in terms of its artistic production, as both a vehicle for artistic expression and the forceful dissemination of a collective ideal was like something never seen before. Far from being art for art’s sake, Futurism art was socially and politically charged and paved the way for the likes of Frida Kahlo, Grayson Perry and even Banksy.

 

As a relatively short-lived movement and one with no definite stylistic constraints, true Futurist artworks – particularly large-scale pieces – are uncommon and rarely come to the market, making them all the more highly prized. Boccioni’s Testa+Luce+Ambiente (1912), for example, achieved over £9 million back in 2018 but a Futurist painting of its kind has, it is argued, not been seen at auction since.