Who was Thomas Marinetti?

Marinetti’s wealth and education freed him from the grind of everyday life and allowed him to apply his vigour, energy and determination in promoting his ideology of Futurism. He was born in Alexandria on 22 December 1876, educated in Egypt and then in Paris before settling in Milan. He developed his love of Italy and literature from an early age and whilst in Paris he became known in the literary circles.

He used Paris as a springboard to introduce the world to Futurism. He was extremely astute, and with his connections began to assault the public with publicity stunts. He applied his stunts with venom at the establishment.   Marinetti’s skill is conjured up by Papini’s statement when describing Marinetti’s arrival in Florence as like a meteorite landing in an old Palace garden.

His ideology was rooted in the “New Unified” Italy. Before 1861 Italy consisted of several provinces, each with its own identity. Under the guidance of the likes of Garibaldi, Cavour and Mazzini, Marinetti was soon to take up the mantle of the New Italy. With Futurism Marinetti would present an image that was the here and now and detach itself from the past. For this individuals had had to find the answer not in ancient times but in the future. Central to this was the embracing of the new technology of the machine age. The advances in science had brought electricity, automobiles, and ship liners. Night was now day with the introduction of electricity.

The Futurist Manifesto

The foundation of Marinetti’s agenda can be clearly seen in the futurist Manifesto of 1909, published in the French newspaper Le Figaro. It is significant that Marinetti chose a French newspaper to introduce the public to Futurism. Paris in the early part of the twentieth century was regarded as the art capital of the world. Artists, writers, filmmakers from all over the world flocked to Paris at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was the birthplace of Cubism (which was a rival to Futurism), the writings of Gertrude Stein and after the first world war, a call to the new world order. It was then only right and fitting that Marinetti championed Futurism in Paris.

The Futurist Manifesto of 1909 (Published in Le Figaro, Paris February 20^th 1909)

1. We shall sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and boldness.
2. The essential elements of our poetry shall be courage, daring and rebellion.
3. Literature has hitherto glorified thoughtful immobility, ecstasy and sleep; we shall extol aggressive movement, feverish insomnia, the double-quick step, the somersault, the box on the ear, the fisticuff.
4. We declare that the world’s splendour has been enriched by a new beauty; the beauty of speed. A racing motor car, its framed adorned with great pipes, like snakes with explosive breath…….a roaring motor car, which looks as though running on shrapnel, is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.
5. We shall sing of the man at the steering wheel, whose ideal stem transfixes the Earth, rushing over the circuit of her orbit.
6. The poet must give himself with frenzy, with splendour and with lavishness, in order to increase the enthusiastic fervour of the primordial elements.
7. There is no more beauty except in strife. No master piece without aggressiveness. Poetry must be a violent onslaught upon the unknown forces, to command them to bow before man.
8. We stand upon the extreme promontory of the centuries!…..Why should we look behind us, when we have to break in the mysterious portals of the Impossibe?   Time and Space died yesterday.   Already we live in the absolute, since we have created speed, eternal and ever present.
9. We wish to glorify War- the only health giver of the world-militarism, patriotism, the destructive arm of the Anarchist, the beautiful Ideas that Kill, the contempt for woman.
10. We wish to destroy the museums, the libraries, to fight against moralism, feminism and all opportunistic and utilitarism meanesses.
11. We shall sing of the great crowds in the excitement of labour, pleasure and rebellion; of the multi-coloured and polyphonic surf of revolutions in modern capital cities; of the nocturnal vibration of arsenals and workshops beneath their violent electric moons; of the greedy stations swallowing smoking snakes; of factories suspended from the clouds by their strings of smoke; of bridges leaping like gymnasts over the diabolical cutlery of sunbathed rivers; of advent liners scenting the horizon; of broad chested locomotives prancing on the rails like huge steel horses bridled with long tubes; and of the gliding flight of aeroplanes, the sound of whose screw is like the flapping of flags and the applause of an enthusiastic crowd.
12. It is in Italy that we launch this manifesto of violence, destructive and incendiary, by which we this day found Futurism, because we would deliver Italy from its canker of professors, archaeologists, cicerones and antiquaries.
13. Italy has been too long the great market of the second-hand dealers. We would free her from the numberless museums which cover her with as many cemeteries.

[as printed in book FUTURISM; Author, Joshua C. Taylor, Published by the Museum of Modern Art 1961, in New York]

As we can see from the above, Futurism, although radical, was far from a benign outline for a progressive state. The Manifesto was an intrinsic part of Futurism. With it the Futurists would instruct the public of their values and beliefs.

The Futurist Painters

The original band of Futurism painters consisted of:

• Giacomo Balla,
• Gino Severini,
• Carlo Carra,
• Luigi Russolo and
• Umberto Boccioni.

The first manifesto was published in 11 February 1910. The manifesto argued for artists to distance themselves from the official art of the day and look to the present day for their subject matter and technique. Instead of painting historical, mythological or religious subjects the Futurists encouraged them to paint the new spectacle that was beginning to seep in to people’s everyday life. Beauty and subject matter were to be found now in motorcars, liners, planes, and electricity. In representing these new experiences they were to capture the interpenetration and dynamism of a subject.

Technique of Futurist painting

The aim of the Futurist painters was to capture the “dynamic sensation”.   In order to portray the “dynamic sensation” artists had to be aware that objects/individuals in life did not exist in isolation to their surroundings; objects penetrated their surroundings. Interpenetration stems from the notion that an object/subject cannot be seen in isolation from its surrounding, but must be viewed in relation to its environment. Therefore all objects/subjects weave into each other, and are seen in relation to other objects/subjects. Another element of dynamic sensation was that objects were not static but were constantly moving, and it was essential to depict this movement.    Each painter then proceeded to develop an art form that would be able to translate this dynamic sensation onto canvas. To heighten or emphasise this aspect of interpenetration the painters experimented with different painting techniques, borrowing from the divisionists and developments in photography.

The divisionist technique of applying unmixed colour in small dabs alongside each other seemed to lend itself to interpenetration. However, divisionist approach was not a new development in the art world and Marinetti’s obsession with the new demanded a new technique. The painters then referred to current developments in photography and hit on a technique that in their eyes captured the dynamism that they were searching for. In rendering movement, they would use the notion of simultaneity. To represent a galloping horse, several repeated leg movements would illustrate movement of the legs. Another aspect of their technique, also, was the lack of clearly defined outlines. Boundaries are fluid, there is no clarification where one subject ends and where one begins. Movement is also expressed by using such devices as clearly defined horizontals or verticals. All that the artists were stating was contentious to a public that was steeped in the chronicles of the past. To build on their manifestos, the Futurists organised soirées to convey their policies. These soirées were deliberately provocative, and would often end up with either the audiences or futurists group being arrested.

Giacomo Balla

Balla’s interest was directed towards rendering movement. His paintings “Dynamism of a dog on a leash” (1912, General A Conger Goodyear, New York) and “Rhythm of the Violinist” (1912, Eric Estorick, London) evoke movement by repeating a pattern and the action. In the latter painting, the violinist’s hand is depicted several times whereas in the former painting, the dog owner and the dog have several pairs of feet. In the “Girl Running on a balcony” (1912, Milan) Balla utilises the divisionist technique of applying dabs of unmixed paint on the surface as well as repetition of action to represent movement. The divisionist technique also aids the meshing of objects, the girl and balcony weave into each other – thereby deconstructing each object and reconstructing a whole sensation

Gino Severini

The notion of deconstruction and reconstruction also appears in Gino Severini’s work.   In his painting “Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin” (1912, Museum of Modern Art, New York), Severini decomposes whole bodies by depicting limbs detached from torso, representing bodies as geometric forms, using different planes and juxtaposing unrelated images together, for instance at the top of the painting he places a person riding a horse, all this evokes a mood of chaos and the pace of modern life.

Carlo Carra

Carlo Carra employed a more abstract approach. He decomposed objects into their pure geometric forms and by multiplying these forms into one painting, the picture “Rhythms of Objects” (1912, Collection Dr Emilo Jesi, Milan) is an example of this.

Luigi Russolo

Lugi Russolo, was the most revolutionary of the painters and he also had an interest in music. As with Balla, he employed repetitive forms, “Plastic Synthesis of the Actions of a woman” (1912, Musee des Beaux Arts, Grenoble), is such an example. In attempting to evoke sound his painting   “Music” (1912, Estorick Collection London) employs a centripetal force - a force that radiates from the centre - as a way of radiating sound. A man is painted at the bottom of the picture striking the keys of a piano, noise is evoked by placing masks of composers on the keys in a circular pattern.   Different colours are used to denote different levels of sound. Russolo’s interest in music developed even further. By literally using noises from modern day life he would develop a new music.   This culminated in a machine/instrument “Intonarumi” (Noise organs) plus the manifesto “The Art of Noises”. “Intonarumi” replicated noises from everyday life such as car horns, the sounds of traffic and so on.

Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni’s developed a style that in some respect is similar to Severini’s , again reducing subject matter to its pure geometric forms. For example in the painting “Elasticity” (1912, Collection Dr Ricardo Jucker) a galloping horse and rider are depicted.   There appears to be only one plane background; foreground and middle ground mesh into each other. And yet the speed of the horse is evoked. This is achieved by decomposition of matter into geometric forms, no outlines are depicted, the geometric forms of the landscape “click” into the geometric forms of the horse and rider. Movement and speed are evoked by representing the horse as moving and the use of diagonal lines being drawn to the left of the painting.

As we can see Futurism was not a unified style.

Futurism and Architecture

The emergence of the new metropolis was the ideal canvas on which Marinetti could project his vision. The new cities were not associated with the past and Marinetti saw this as a great chance to shape and mould the cityscape. Much of Futurist architecture was theoretical.

Manifesto of Futurist Architecture published in Lacerba 11 July 1914

Architecture must be impermanent “we must invent and remake the Futurist city to be like a huge tumultuous shipyard, agile, mobile, dynamic in all its parts; and the Futurist house to be like a gigantic machine” in the manifesto. Elevators would be on the outside of the buildings, buildings would be proportioned in accordance with their needs, and streets would be on street levels joined by escalators. Built of concrete, glass, and steel they would proudly display their structure and mechanical functions”

Urban life is immortalised by the city.   The urbanisation of man and its effects on man is immortalised in George Simmel’s essay “The Metropolis and Mental Life”. Given that city was a relatively new phenomenon it was rather surprising that Marinetti had not roped in an architect.   However it was not too long before Marinetti added Sant Elia into his Futurist group. Antonio Sant’ Elia, in a way, already had anti establishment tendencies in architecture, he had been part of the group “New Tendencies” which like Futurism criticised Italy’s architects for adopting the styles of the past. Sant Elia’s visions were not materialised and we only have his sketches to refer to.

The city would resemble a complex that linked domestic and industrial habitats - at the centre would be the power station (the new cathedral). Sant’ Elia “New City” represent multi levels, built from new materials and technology; reinforced concrete, glass, and steel.   There would be no decorative elements.   Emphasis was given to the vertical line. Spherical shapes were also an element. It resembles in part the new cities that are depicted in science fiction films.

Futurism, Fashion, Film, and Cuisine

As mentioned above Marinetti did not perceive Futurism as a concept solely related to art and the ideology of Futurism soon began to filter through to other fields including the following

Fashion

The foundations of Futurist fashion lay in bright colours and geometric shapes to form attire that was both stylish and practical. Asymmetric suits, garish shoes and bright vivid waistcoats with abstract patterns were the futurist uniform – and no doubt attracted attention

Film

Futurist film was not based on a mirror image reality. They employed a new symbolic vocabulary and were not based on conventional narratives. They experimented with colour, lenses and visual effects. The film “Drama of the Futurists’ cabaret No 13 (1913/1914) is credited as being the first Futurist film.

Cuisine

The aim of Futurist cuisine was to dissociate Italians from pasta. Food would be mixed with alternative seasoning such as eau de cologne and would be eaten without the use of cutlery. The manifesto on Futurist cuisine was published on 28 December 1930.

Words in Freedom

The Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature was published in 1912 and again was concerned with the obliteration of traditional standards in literature. Words were free to be positioned anywhere on the page and   were placed in different positions; slanting, diagonals were just a few practices of the new order. Grammar and syntax must be shattered and adjectives should be disposed of. These were some of the slogans promoted by Marinetti.

Futurism in other Countries

However, the First World War stopped it in its tracks.

The First World War

Futurism has often been left out of the artistic cannon because of its painful association with fascism after the First World War. As we have already seen war was interpreted by Marinetti   as a good thing , and progressive.   He wanted Italy to intervene in the First World War alongside the French, British and Americans. Italy entered the war in 1915, Boccioni was killed in action and many of the original painters had abandoned Marinetti’s Futurism wishing to pursue other ideas that interested them more and so ended the first phase of Futurism.

The second phase of Futurism

After the Second World War Italy was in political and economic turmoil. Allegiances were starting to form to secure power. Ever the political animal Marinetti allied himself and, in turn, Futurism with Mussolini.   The core of the second phase of Futurism was based on abstract geometric forms and was encapsulated by Aeropittura (Aerial painting). True to form, a manifesto of Aeropittura was published in 1929 with Balla, Marinetti, and Pramolini as participants. Marinetti died in 1944.

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