Futurism

An avante-garde movement seeking to break with all past art movements, Futurism (for "future", futuro in Italian) emerged in Italy around 1910. Futurist artists called for an end to all academies, equated museums with cemeteries, and sought an aesthetic of dynamic fragmentation. Similar to Cubism, Futurism was preoccupied with the decomposition of form. However, formal decomposition in Futurism is not the same as the pure fragmentation of form in Cubism; rather, Futurist images seek to visualize a series of motions, using chronophotography, or multiple photographic exposures (stop-motion photography). The factor of time occupies a central role in Futurist art. The depiction of simultaneity in dynamic processes was meant to illustrate such technical advances, signifying a futuristic approach to flow. Composition thus becomes more rhythmic and protracted, as motion cannot insert itself into an prescribed pictoral space. Futurist artists developed a rapid, vibrant style that dismantled perspective and delineation so that color and shape could be expressed. Futurist sculpture tried to capture the motion and speed of the world of technology in a single object; figures are fragmented, as in Boccioni’s work, "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space".
In terms of social history, this fascination with speed grew out of a desire to totally restructure society in the wake of technical advancements. The "Futurist Manifesto", published by the poet Marinetti on Febuary 20, 1909 on the front page of Le Figaro, announced a total break with all established tradition. The Futurists regarded war as an opportunity to purge the world of old outdated views, a chance to start anew. Their insistence on working outside the boundaries of artistic convention was progressive and was later echoed in Dadaism. The Futurists were inspired by the writings of the philosophers Nietzsche and Bergon.
The artists Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Luigi Russolo, and Gino Severini were Futurists.

Related artists:  Balla, Giacomo