UNIQUE FORMS OF CONTINUITY AND SPACE Flashcards
date
1913
medium
bronze
scale
118 x 88, 37cm
smaller than life size
where is it currently
tate
who was the futurist movement founded by
The Futurist movement was founded by Filippo Marinetti and evolved by artists like Umberto Boccioni, who enthused about new inventions such as cars and electricity.
what is the subject
-Striding figure caught in the process of movement
-3D portrait of a powerful body in action
-aim was to express movement and how we EXPERIENCE modern world (not how we see it)
-This is the fourth in a series of striding figures by Boccioni exploring the dynamism of the modern world
what was this in a series of
*This is the fourth in a series of striding figures by Boccioni exploring the dynamism of the modern world
-the others are all lost
-Surviving photographs show how Boccioni worked out a series of variations of flowing forms which he developed to express movement
how is the figure treated
*Dehumanised - no identity (no face or expression)
-fusion of human and machine
*Simplified - no detail - anti-naturalistic
-no arms
figure is abstracted to convey speed and force in sculptural form
emphasis on musculature
what is the pose of the figure (and what peices is it similar to)
Pose is thrusting forward onto right leg - powerful legs each on a bronze block (pose similar to Victory of Samothrace and Rodin Walking Man, 1877)
how does the torso of this piece appear
Torso appears armour-plated, helmet like head (reference the Futurists’ love of war)
how did his abstracted treatment respond to his statements from the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture, 1912
in the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture, 1912 Boccioni said…
“Reject the blind and foolish imitation of formulas inherited from the past” AND “Reject the burdensome weight of Greece”
-wanted to reject the realism of from of classical antiquity
how is line used in this peice
Boccioni completely abandons the traditional use of line used to define and contain the body’s form
Futurists fragmented the body to show its active impact on its surroundings, through what they called LINES OF FORCE
boccioni quote on abandoing use of line
Let us aim for the absolute and complete abolition of finite line and closed sculpture. Let us break open the figure and enclose the environment within in” Boccioni, Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture in 1912
influence of cubism
-fragmentation and abstraction of form
-seeing Picasso’s Head of a Woman pushed Boccioni into sculpture
BUT
*Lines of Force are a deliberate attempt by Boccioni to animate and electrify the figure and are distinctly Futurist: an attempt to energise Cubist treatment of form which Futurists believed was too intellectual and static
why did futuists fragment the body
the Futurists fragmented the body to show its active impact on its surroundings, through what they called LINES OF FORCE
how is fragmentation of form seen in this peice
*The figure is criss-crossed by a series of curves and diagonals lines
*Lines of Force are a deliberate attempt by Boccioni to animate and electrify the figure and are distinctly Futurist: an attempt to energise Cubist treatment of form which Futurists believed was too intellectual and static
boccioni quote on lines of force
they ‘which characterise the object and enable us to see it as a whole’
Boccioni, Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture in 1912
how is the influence of
Influence of Cubist form / Cubist sculpture seen in this peice
Influence of Cubist form / Cubist sculpture seen in:
*Abstraction, simplification and fragmenting of forms
*Overlapping and interpenetrating forms
*Segmental and curved forms suggest the cleaving of figure and environment (outside flows in and inside flows out = interpenetration of forms seen in many Futurist works)
*Flame-like projections encode the sensation of speed
how does this use of traditional matterial contradict boccionis normal approach to material
normally used unconventional material in his work:
-iron, cardboard, cement, horse hair, leather, cloth and mirrors
process of making this peice
The original work was done in plaster; then cast in bronze in the 1930s, 40s and 70s, long after Boccioni’s death in 1916
why did bocionni create the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture, 1912
in 1912 he turned to sculpture, impatient with the way it was lagging behind modern developments. He formed a Futurist theory of sculpture
His aim was to make sculpture which would represent the dynamism of modern man, in motion in the modern world.
influence of chronophotography in this peice
*A photographic technique beginning late 19th C which captures movement in several frames of print. Pioneered by Muybridge
-responds to the study of movement
influence of the writings of Nietzsche
Nietzsche’s Übermensch is a key philosophical influence on Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space 1913
The sculpture may reflect ideas of the mechanised, robotic super body that appeared in Futurist writings, as well as the ‘superman’ (Übermensch) envisaged by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
In his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra Nietzsche
Nietzsche’s superman was designed to be able to transform society
what does the oriogional plaster sculpture look like
The original white plaster sculpture, today in São Paulo, looks more transient and delicate than the later bronze casts, and is thus far more fitting for Futurism
