Introduction
What is a futurist?
A futurist is someone who studies the future in way to assist
people in gaining understanding, anticipate and to prepare for coming changes.
It is the uses of foresight to explain or describe what could happen in the
future. This may include driving forces, assumption, evidence or indicators of
the future. (Association professional futurist, 2013). This was how futurism
came about through the minds of a futurist. Futurism, “is an artist movement
originated in Italy around 1909.With aims to express the energetic, dynamic and
violent quality of contemporary life, especially as embodies in the motion and
force of modern machinery.” (Houghton Mufflin, 2009).
History
of Futurism
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Futurism was an art and social movement which originated in Italy
around the 20th century and was formed by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti,
the father of the Futurist movement. One
could say that the Futurist movement glorified themes associated with the
vision and concept of the future. These
themes include technology, speed, violence, youth, etc.
This idea or rather this
concept of Futurism was jogged by Marinetti’s near death experience, him
involved in a car accident. The manifesto was written around 1909 and was
published on the 20 February 1909 in the French daily newspaper, Le Figaro
Before moving forward we understand that the Industrial
Revolution formed the foundation for the modern world were technology became
rapid; we first see the steam engine being invented which lead up to the
invention of the motorcar in 1885. This formed basis of their obsession in emphasising speed, violence, etc in their artwork. The Futurist demonstrated their obsession
with the concept of the future in their artwork through the use of
brushstrokes, which showed continuous movement.
Futurism was one of the first movements that directly targeted the mass
audience
The
Ideology
Looking at the sources that we have gathered we believe that this
ideology was prompted by inventions that occurred at that particular space and
time. Even though it did take place during the early 19th century,
the Industrial Revolution plays its role towards modern civilisation. It was
the late 19th and early 20th century that saw Futurisms
arrival. The three key inventions we identified were: the motorcar (1885),
wireless telegraph (1895) and the airplane (1903). These inventions sparked the
idea of speed, which was what the Futurists stood for. They collapsed the
existence of space and time rendering it absolute.
The
Futurists touched on 5 areas of experimentation:
· Light and colour
· Movement and speed
· Plastic dynamism of form
· The interpenetration of form
· Prismatic/ Shattering
Light and colour were rendered in an abstract manner. Plastic
dynamism was expressed through the method of simultaneity and the state of
capturing the subject in its mobile and immobile state brought about the
quality of dynamism. A good example would be the artwork Dynamism of Dog on a Leash.
Areas such interpenetration and Shattering give the idea of closely analysing the subject hence explaining their in-depth expression of the beauty
of the machine.
The telegraph was considered as the mode of communication at the
time and it inspired Marinetti to instil a belief to the futurists. To send a telegram one had keep in mind the
fact that the telegraph used a “pay-per-word” method, so one would have to
limit the amount of thing said when encoding a message. Marinetti encouraged poets
to use this clipped like language. Poets were encouraged to skip the analogy
process when expressing metaphors and artists were encouraged likewise with
their artworks. When the wireless
telegraph came about Marinetti encouraged the idea of “wireless imagination”
The
Victory of Samothrace
Winged Victory of Samothrace
Filippo Marinetti had the opportunity to study the Victory of Samothrace as a student. This
statue is a Greek marble statue depicting the goddess of victory, Nike. Marinetti compared the ancient
statue (which dates back to 190 B.C.) to a speeding car. Unlike most classic
sculptures this marble statue portrays a sense of being dynamic and it
possesses a quality of movement. Through his analysis he believes the racing
car to be more attractive and in stating this he favours the beliefs of the
futurists over the beliefs of an arts and craft or Avant guard era. This also means that symbolism and aura that went with the statue has now manifested in the race car with in roaring motor.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was an
Italian poet born on the 20 February 1876 in Egypt. He went under the name
Emilio Angelo Carlo before changing it. Marinetti began his education in 1884
in France where he studied law at the University of Pavia. His wealthy father
was the one who commanded him to pursue a career in law. At the age of
seventeen he created his first magazine called ‘Le Papyrus’. In 1898 he
published his first poem ‘The Cup-Bearer’
and the next year he got his degree.
His interests thou were in law so he relocated to Paris to purse a
career in poetry.
On October 15, 1908 he was involved
in an accident that inspired him to invent futurism, and arts-and-literature
movement. The following year in on the 20th of February Marinetti
published ‘The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism’ in a number of Italian
newspapers and also the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro. He became a prominent
typographer and implemented onomatopoeia in his works.
In 1911 Italian biplanes raided
provinces of the Ottoman Empire and Marinetti explains that the lack concern
shown by the Arabs towards the biplanes was reflected by society’s attitude
toward Futurism.
Analysis of artwork
Giacomo Balla-Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
The Futurists wanted to break away from the Classical and Renaissance
styles that dominated Italy at the start of the twentieth century. The movement was
striving to portray speed and forceful dynamism. The goal for the work was to
depict a synthetic continuity of motion.
For some, the sculpture shows a striding into the future. The sculpture
has an aerodynamic and fluid form. As a pedestal, two blocks at the feet
connect the figure to the ground. Its undulating surface seems to transform
before the eyes of the viewer. One can say the Boccioni sculpted a future-man:
masculine, dynamic and driven in his stride.
The face of the sculpture is abstracted into a cross, suggesting a
helmet, which is appropriate reference for the ‘war-hungry’ Futurists. The
figure doesn’t appear to have arms, though wing like forms appear from the
back. These protrusions are not necessarily part of the figure itself since
Boccioni sculpted the figure and its immediate environment. The air displaced
by the figure’s movements is rendered in forms no different than those of the
actual body. For example, the flame-like shapes that begins at the calves and
shows the air swirling away from the body in motion.
Boccioni continued the theme of human movement seen in his paintings
such as “Dynamism of a Soccer Player, 1913”. Movement was a key element for
Boccioni and the other futurists, as the technology of transportation allowed
people to experience even greater speeds. The blurry, fleeting, fragmentary
sight created by this new velocity.
This is a very unique type of art. The bronze sculpture has
three-dimensional traits, yet it upholds a different trait. It is able to
capture and stop time and movement. It can be compared to Eadweard Muybridge’s
“Female Semi-Nude in Motion”.
Boccioni is very successful in presenting two-dimensional effects. He
cloaked the true figure in the clothing of atmospheric effects, thus the work
is no longer just an object but also the forces that act upon the subject. Just
as a picture captures a scene, Boccioni locks this one moment onto this “box”.
The time is very finite. It has captured only one moment of a series of events.
Report on delegation of tasks and presentation
Digapeng was assigned to analysing the artwork and Ntsako was responsible for the Aesthetics of the movement. Khani
was dealing with the history of the movement and overview of Futurism while Morena
was responsible for the ideology of the movement. Ditiro was the key artist of
the movement and the PowerPoint presentations
The research was shared amongst the
group members and each had to gather findings on their particular task. For the
actual presentation Khani did the introduction of the and talked about the
history of Futurism. Morena followed with a discussion of the movements’
ideology.
Ditiro gave a background of the key
artist and talked about the aims of the movement. Khani further explained the
aesthetics of the movement and Digapeng gave the analysis of the chosen
artwork. For the second part of the presentation Digapeng introduced the group
manifesto and Ditiro explained what the movement is about.
Ntsako was not present on the day of
the presentation.
Group Members
Mapiti Ditiro Shayi MGI 2010-1746
Morena Moletsane MGI 2011-1989
Digapeng Mothibe MGI 2011-0098
Khanimambo Mkhombo MGI 2010-0634
Ntsako Mabunda MGI 2010-0210
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