Futurist Fervor

 

Italian Futurism revolution

 

futurism_meccanica_pannaggi_speeding_train

‘Speeding Train’, Ivo Pannaggi, 1922.

 

 

Marcia-su-Roma-Rometti-Italia-C.Cagli---1932 - ovoid vase depicting men riding horsses

‘Marcia su Roma’ – C.Cagli – Rometti Italia

1932

 

 

Il-Calciatore-D.Baldelli---1934 - a futurist style plate featuring a soccer player

‘Il-Calciatore’ – D.Baldelli, Rometti

1934

 

 

The_Knife_Grinder_Principle_of_Glittering_by_Kazimir-Malevich,-The-Knife-Grinder-(Principle-of-Glittering),-1913,-oil-on-canvas,-79.5-x-79

‘The Knife Grinder’ –  (Principle of Glittering) by Kazimir Malevich

Russian Cubo Futurism, 1913

When Aristarkh Lentulov returned from Paris in 1913 and exhibited his works in Moscow, the Russian Futurist painters adopted the forms of Cubism and combined them with the Italian Futurists’ representation of movement.

 

 

Aeropittura---Museo-Novecento-Fillia-(Luigi-Colombo)-1932

‘Aeropittura’—Fillia (Luigi-Colombo), 1932

Museo Novecento

 

 

Italian Futurist-sculpture and painting Umberto Boccioni - Guggenheim

 Umberto Boccioni Futurist painting, ‘Dynamism of a Soccer Player’ and sculpture ‘Unique Forms of Continuity in Space’

Reconstructing the Universe at the Guggenheim, 2014

 

 

futurism-Tullio-Crali-1932-Bombardamento-Aero - bi planes on a bombing raid

‘Bombardamento Aero’ – Tullio Crali

1932

 

 

SPEEDING INTO THE FUTURE – Futurist art

 

Futurism was conceived in a period at the beginning of the twentieth century where there was an unprecedented shift in technology and innovation in pursuit of modernity. This was provoked by the political upheavals at this time and new technological advances in communication, travel and mass production, all adding to the perception of increased speed.. The avant garde, futurist movement began in Italy with grandiose aspirations of shaking Italy out of its cultural malaise, which had hardly changed from the classical era of 16th century, to embrace a new modernism. This was all stirred by the launch in 1909 of the Futurist Manifesto by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.
The Futurist movement celebrated the dawning of a new world featuring themes of motion, speed and technology, by eagerly embracing new interpretations of sculpture, painting, music, architecture, ceramics and fashion with rampant colours and explosive energy. The reality of this quickly changing world was to be expressed by an omnipresent dynamism. Even gastronomy, poetry and graphic design were given attention. Just as Art Nouveau had made a deliberate break away from classical art, Futurism went to another level in renouncing the classical romanticism and replacing it with an audacious social and artistic revolution in culture and urbanism.

The early Futurist artists that took up the cause were Carlo Carrà, Umberto Boccioni and Luigi Russolo and  Gino Severini.  Settimio Rometti, founder of Rometti Ceramiche, was also one of the first in Italy to break away from the figurative style of the late Renaissance and Art Nouveau traditions and take up the innovative ideas of the avant garde in international art and design, created by such artists as Corrado Cagli, Dante Baldelli, Mario Di Giacomo, Giacomo Balla, and Fortunato Depero. By 1912 the Futurist movement already had considerable momentum and when Italian Fascism gathered pace in 1921, the artists had already escaped into the future with their art.

 

 

futuristic speed Fortunato Depero mand speeding into the distance on a motorbike

Fortunato Depero

 

In 1910, the father of Futurism, Filippo Marinetti, in an act of cultural radicalism, had dropped leaflets from the Campanile in Saint Mark’s Square in Venice, calling for the city’s canals to be filled with the rubble of its palaces, to herald in a new era of artistic innovation and military and economic renewal in the Adriatic region. The futurists released many ambitious Manifestos designed to draw passionate attention to their cause and provoke a cultural shift. The second Futurist manifesto of 1910 proclaimed: “Everything is in movement, everything rushes forward, everything is in constant change.” Their fervor for revitalizing the Italian spirit through art, design, technological innovation and education later became aligned with the nationalistic, expansive goals of the Italian Fascist movement. Despite the profound influence Futurism had on the development of modern design, it was slightly tainted by this association. Futurism had developed into a broad multi-media socio-politico-cultural movement. However the politicizing of the movement by some of its zealous members had little representation or impact on the art itself. Overall the art remained pure and the drive and inspiration of the futurist artists transcended the darker elements of this era and triumphed in shaping the direction and design aesthetic of the 20th century. Futurism had a tangible influence on art movements that followed including Art Deco, Vorticism, Constructivism, Dada, Surrealism and Mid Century modernism. For a movement that didn’t even span three decades, its vibrancy and originality has made a lasting contribution.

 

 

Women, stairs, skyscrapers, 1930 - Fortunato Depero Futuristi art abstract cubist

‘Women, stairs, skyscrapers’ – 1930 – Fortunato Depero

 

 

 

Futrurist Antonio-Sant'Elia-(1888---1916)-was-an-Italian-architect

Drawing by Italian futurist architect Antonio-Sant’Elia

 

FUTURIST CUBIST EXUBERANCE

 

One of the defining aspects of Futurist art was its adaption of cubism. Whereas Cubism focused on dividing objects into their component geometrical shapes and reassembling them abstractly, Futurism regarded all objects as an interconnecting whole by emphasizing the evident contiguity of all things seen. The mind doesn’t perceive objects to be separate from their surroundings “The gesture which we would reproduce on canvas shall no longer be a fixed moment in universal dynamism. It shall simply be the dynamic sensation itself”. Boccioni, perhaps the most dedicated to the aspirations of Futurism, began by re-working cubist techniques in drawings and in three-dimensional renderings in attempts to show the contiguity and flux of things. As described in this manifesto, his designs featured bold groupings and large-scale disposition of planes and masses creating a heroic industrial expressionism. His vision was of a highly industrialized and mechanized city of the future, which he saw not as a mass of individual buildings but as a vast multi-level interconnected and integrated conurbation designed around the “life” of the city. The Italian futurist Antonio Sant’Elia’s extremely influential designs featured vast monolithic skyscraper buildings with terraces, bridges and aerial walkways.

 

 

Bailarina-1915-Gino-Severini

‘Bailarina’ – Gino Severini -1915

 

Extract from a letter Gino Severini wrote –

“In the early days the Cubists’ method of grasping an object was to go round and round it; the futurists declared that one had to get inside it. In my opinion the two views can be reconciled in a poetic cognition of the world. But to the very fact that they appealed to the creative depths in the painter by awakening in him hidden forces which were intuitive and vitalizing, the Futurist theories did more than the Cubist principles to open up unexplored and boundless horizons.”
“Futurism and Cubism are comparable in importance to the invention of perspective, for which they substituted a new concept of space. All subsequent movements were latent in them or brought about by them… the two movements cannot be regarded as in opposition to each other, even though they started from opposite points; I maintain (an idea approved by Apollinaire and later by Matisse) that they are two extremes of the same sign, tending to coincide at certain points which only the poetic instinct of the painter can discover: poetry being the content and raison d’être of art.”

 

 

Depero-Fortunato---Gondoliere-veneziano Futurist painting of a venetian gondola

Depero Fortunato— ‘Gondoliere Veneziano’

 

 

Enrico-Prampolini 1915 Woman-+-Light-+-Environment futurist cubist painting of a woman

Enrico Prampolini – ‘Woman + Light + Environment’

1915

 

 

Giacomo-Balla-Sculpture"Il Giardini Futurista," installation view, at Galerie Nordenhake in Berlin, 2003 -futurist flower sculptures

Giacomo Balla “Il Giardini Futurista,” flower sculpture installation view, at Galerie Nordenhake in Berlin

2003

 

Vaso-Volo-di-Uccelli-par-Tullio-Mazzotti vase with flying black birds on yellow and white

‘Flight of Birds’ vase – Tullio Mazzotti

Albisola

 

 

Fortunato Depero-(1892-1960)-–-Le cycliste traverse la ville-(1945) futurist painting of cyclists

 Fortunato Depero (1892-1960)-–- ‘Le cycliste traverse la ville’

1945

 

 

1921--Russian--cubo-futurist,-pre-constructivist-production-of-Turandot-at-the-MAT-(Studio)--directed-by-Yevgeny-Vakhtangov,-designed-by-Igor-Nivinsky

Russian–cubo-futurist, pre-constructivist production of Turandot at the MAT (Studio)- designed by Igor Nivinsky.

1921

 

 

– Futurist painting The Strength of the Curve- Tullio Crali,-1930

 Curvilinear cubist futurist  ‘The Strength of the Curve’ – Tullio Crali

1930

 

 

 

Ceramic-manufacturing-Giuseppe-Mazzotti,-Albisola John Acquaviva-(study-of-decorum)-and-Tullio-Mazzotti-said-of-Albisola-(execution)-vase-with-decoration-aereofuturista-anteater-and-seaplane-,

 Giuseppe Mazzotti Vase with decoration of aereo futurista anteater and seaplane

Albisola, Italy

 

 

 

Phobia-antimitativa Tullio Mazzotti-d'Albisola - Mug-acentric-'Fobia-antimitativa'-1928, -terracotta-painted

Phobia antimitativa  – Tullio Mazzotti

d’Albisola  1928

 

 

Giuseppe Mazzotti Italian Futurist sport figures Action sporting sculptures

Giuseppe Mazzotti  Italian Futurist sport figures

Albisola, Italy

 

 Fortunato-Depero-''Nitrito-in-velocità',-1932 Futurist cubist painting of a man riding a horse

Fortunato Depero – ”Nitrito in velocità” 1932

In 1919 Depero founded the Casa d’Arte Futurista (House of Futurist Art) in Rovereto, Italy

 

 

Gio-Ponti---Richard-Ginori---SAN-CRISTOFORO blue white vertical striped sperical vase

St. Christopher  – Gio Ponti & Richard Ginori – spherical, futurist style vase

 

 

 

Abstract Harlequin made in the late '50s in Deruta designed futurist artist Ernesto Nino Road

 Harlequin mid-century vase made in Deruta and designed by futurist artist Ernesto Nino Road

 

 

1930 - Mussolini inspecting ceramics on the street in Italy

Some Italian fascists had tried to persuade Mussolini to ban modernism (as Hitler had in Germany) and include Futurism in the list of degenerate art. Mussolini refused because by the late 1930s, the style of Futurism had become the favoured art form for promoting Fascism.

 

 

 

Gino Severini - Harlequin-and-the-Mandolin,-1919,-oil-on-canvas,-private-collection

Gino Severini

 

 

Italian Futurist Style Pair Of female figure table-Lamps Sala-Italy-(Designer)-1930 ROBERTO NAVARRO

Italian Futurist Style Pair Of Table Lamps by Sala Italy

1930

Roberto Navarro 1st Dibs

 

 

 

Italian futurist table lamp, Italy

Futurist table lamp, Italy

 

 

Jar with lid and winged aircraft 1930-1931-ceramic formed in the mold and decorated with enamel underglaze, gun and with parts-in platinum,Dante-Baldelli-Archers-Vase,manufacture-Rometti

 Dante Baldelli – ‘Archers Vase’, manufactured by  Rometti

Jar with lid and winged aircraft in formation – ceramic formed in the mold and decorated with enamel underglaze,  platinum highlights

1930-1931

 

 

Manlio-Trucco-(1884-1974) nude female centaur. On the back, incidentally signature and initials, Albisola. 1930

Manlio Trucco-(1884-1974) nude female riding centaur, Albisola 1930

In an early Futurist manifesto they had declared “We demand, for ten years, the total suppression of the nude in painting.” as a reaction to the predominance of classical nudes in Italian art.

 

 

 

Mazotti Albisola Cup and saucer ceramic decoration futurist,-1930

Mazotti ceramic cup and saucer with futurist decoration

Albisola, 1930

 

 

MEDUSA CUP Terracotta decorated in paint colors and polychrome enamels.

 Medusa Cup – Tullio Mazotti

Terracotta hand decorated in polychrome enamels.

Albisola – 1930

 

 

 

Tullio Mazotti D’Albisola - 1930 medusa cup futurist design

Medusa Cup – Tullio Mazotti ( top view )

Albisola – 1930

 

 

Materia---Umberto-Boccioni futurist abstract cubist painting

Umberto Boccioni – ‘Materia’ – 1912 ( portrait of his mother )

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

In place of the intersecting architectonic planes characteristic of Cubism, transparent planes with radiating and arching lines imply movement. This led forward to the language Boccioni was to use for his studies of rapid movement in the second half of 1913, such as Dynamism of a Cyclist.

 

 

 

Rometti-futurista elephant jar

Futurist elephant jar – Rometti, Italy

 

 

 

nicola-diulgheroff--(1901-1982)---M.G.A futurist bowl

 Futurist Bowl – Nicola Diulgheroff–M.G.A

 

 

Ponti,-Gio--Domitilla-1924 cherry red ceramic sculpture of a seated nude lady

 Gio Ponti — ‘Domitilla’

Italy, 1924

 

 

Nicolaj Diulgheroff and Tullio Mazzotti Albisola-1930-31 espresso.repubblica

Ceramic compote – Nicolaj Diulgheroff and Tullio Mazzotti Albisola

1930-31

 

 

Piatto motociclisti Tullio Mazzotti, Albisola Dish with speeding cyclists decoration

‘Piatto Motociclisti’ dish – Tullio Mazzotti, Albisola

gmazzotti1903

 

 

CASA DELL'ARTE VASE MANLIO TRUCCO ALBISOLA FUTURISTA ART DECO Futurist-Vase-Wyeth-NY

Manilo Tucci Albisola futurista vase

1stDibs – Wyeth NY

 

 

 

Nicolaj Diulgheroff- and Tullio Mazzotti-said-of-Albisola-(execution)1932

Nicolaj Diulgheroff and Tullio Mazzotti futurist vase

Albisola, 1932

 

 

 

Nicolaj-Djulgheroff---M.G ceramic tea set

Futurist ceramic tea set – Nicolaj Djulgheroff—M.G, Italy

 

 

 

Robert Venturi-,-1925 Manufacture-Alessi,-Crusinallo-1992-White-porcelain-vase-with-polychrome-decoration,

Futurist vessel designed by Robert Venturi

1925

 

 

rometti ceramics on display

Rometti ceramics

Umbertide, Italy

 

 

 

Tea set - Nicolaj Djulgheroff-1930-Futurism--Manufacture-Giuseppe-Mazzotti-1903

Futurist tea set – Nicolaj Djulgheroff – 1930

Manufactured  by Giuseppe Mazzotti

 

 

Slender vase with handles-Series F-1937 Giuseppe Mazzotti

 Slender vase with handles – Series F   Giuseppe Mazzotti

Albisola, 1937

 

 

 

Tullio-Mazzotti-Vaso-Amori-Fiori-per-la-Manifattura-Giuseppe-MazzottiTullio-Mazzotti-Vase-Loves--–-Flowers-for-the-manufacture-Giuseppe-Mazzotti-1929

 Tullio Mazzotti Vase – ‘Amori Fiori’

 

 

The-Strength-of-the-Modernity-–-Arts-in-Italy-1920-1950---Beatrice-Brandini-Blog-Dante-Baldelli-----Vase-with-allegories,-1935--for-the-manufacture-Rometti

  Dante Baldelli designed vase for Rometti

1935

 

 

boccioni brass futurist cubist sculpture

Futurist cubist sculpture – ‘Development of a Bottle in Space’ (1912) –  Umberto Boccioni

 

 

 

Tullio Mazzotti - Albisola Vase With Question Mark 1930-31

 Tullio Mazzotti –  ‘Vase With Question Mark’

Albisola, 1930-31

 

 

 

Nicolaj Diulgheroff-Tullio-D’Albisola---M.G.A.-Albisola

 Futurist ceramics – Nicolaj Diulgheroff – Tullio D’Albisola

circa 1934

 

 

 

RomettiCERAMIC-Rometti-sacru-UMBERTIDE-1933-1935

 Rometti futurist ceramic set

1933-35

 

 

 

Shaking Flight [Tullio Crali, 1939

‘Shaking Flight’  by Tullio Crali, 1939

 

 

Umberto-Boccioni-painting-Dinamismo-di-un-footballer--–-Italian-Futurism

Umberto Boccioni painting ‘Dinamismo di un footballer’

 

 

 

Planet-mercury-passing-in-front-of-the-sun-1914-1_painter-giacomo-balla

Giacomo Balla – ‘Planet Mercury passing in front of the Sun’

1914

 

 

 

vaso-geometrico by Tullio Mazzotti for the Centenary of Movement Futurista

‘Vaso Geometrico’

Designed by Tullio Mazzotti for the Centenary of Movement Futurista 1909 – 2009

 

 

 

1912-painting-by-fantastic-Futurist-painter-Luigi-Rossolo-entitled-Dinamismo-di-un’Automobile

‘Dinamismo di un Automobile’ -futurist painter Luigi Rossolo

1912

 

 

Futurist-Cat--planter--Signed-Louis-Wain--Futurist-Cat--stamped-Imperial-Amphora- Ceramic blue and yellow cat figure planter

Futurist Cat Planter—Louis Wain

Imperial Amphora, Austria

 

 

 

Piatto-biliardo Tullio Mazzotti, Albisola dish showing three men playing billiards in futurist style

‘Piatto biliardo’ – Tullio Mazzotti

Albisola, Italy

 

 

Nicolaj_Diulgheroff_Tullio_dAlbisola_Casa_Torido_Mazotti_Italian_Futurist_Ceramic_Tea_Set_collection_Kunstconsult_Nicolaj-Diulgheroff-&-Tullio-d'Albisola,-circa-1936

1936 Italian futurist plate Nicolaj Diulgheroff, Tullio Mazotti

Albisola

Quoted Sources –  Italian Futurism: From Cubism in Motion to Fascism’s Official Style

                                                                                                                                   – Before It All Began: The Visionary

 

 

 

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