Langages of Futurism (Sprachen des Futurismus)
Posted by: admin in Exhibitions, tags: Depero, Futurism, Langages of Futurism, MART, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Severini, Sprachen des FuturismusLangages of Futurism (Sprachen des Futurismus)
Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
reviewed by Gary Levinson
“That looks very futuristic!” my mother might declare in describing an avant-garde object or work of art. With this exclamation, she is almost certainly not referring to the artistic and social movement called Futurism, that in this year celebrates its 100th birthday.
Futurism, as a movement, was founded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909 with the publication of his Futurist Manifesto. Marientti was sick of the traditions and cultures left over from the last century (“We’ve had enough of the past!”) and made an appeal for a new dawn in the world of culture; one completely different from the past, in which the supposed triumph of technology over nature would be shown.
Futurism was an Italian phenomenon, having a French correspondent in Cubism, and a German pendant in Expressionism. While Cubism was an artistic movement concentrating on the tableau, Futurism concerned the whole of life, and the whole of artistic expression, encompassing every conceivable medium (even cooking! Marinetti deplored spaghetti for being so last-century.)
It was in Italy that Futurism, a culturally revolutionary movement encompassing all aspects of life, took place. In France, the more open and contemporary culture reduced the need for such a profound change.
The Futurists were nationalistic, supporting Mussolini and the fascist political organization in Italy. They were attracted to the Fascists populist presentations; especially the idea of modernizing their divided country, with its modern north (industrial Milan) and rural south.
Futurism was also accepted by groups of National Socialists (Nazis) in Germany, and had a large final exhibition there in 1934. After Hitler saw the Futurist art, in September 1934, he deemed it degenerate and forbid it along with Expressionism.
The Martin-Gropius-Bau, in Berlin has organized an exhibition to mark the 100th anniversary of Futurism. In this comprehensive exhibition are works done in the various Futuristic media: literary, painting, sculpture, noises, theater props, etc. The works shown give a rounded picture of the Futurist times and their means of expression.
The first works in the Futurist genre were literary. Marinetti, who was a writer, set down the Futurist ideology in his Futurist Manifesto. He thereafter experimented with words, letters, and lines to make avant-garde onomatopoeic poems, writings and images.
Fortunato Depero, one the the most prodigious among the Futurist artists, is on display with, among many other pieces, his eponymously named Subway (1929), a graphic image composed of letters and lines.
There are many paintings by Gino Severini to be seen. These capture the eye with their richness of color and their complexity of form. When I asked the curator of the exhibition, Gabriela Belli, what her favorite work in the exhibition was, she immediately turned to Severini’s Souvenir de Voyage (1911). This multi-colored collage of various images relating to a voyage (buses, Taj Mahal, Alps, etc.) had been hidden for 60 years in a private collection before coming back to light on the market in 1995.
After showing me Souvenir de Voyage, Ms. Belli, director of the Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART), quickly turned to the far wall and pointed to Severini’s Ritmo plastico del 14 luglio (1913) saying that she really liked it because it embodied the different forms of Futurist expression: dance, theater, and painting all in one. Others in this vein were Severini’s Danseuse from 1913-14, and his Tramway sur le boulevard (1913).
A few of the images on display had a rather impressionistic look to them, especially one (which all the visitors stopped to look at) by Umberto Boccioni, entitled Nudo di spalle.
The Futurists were known to admire violence, and Depero’s painting La rissa (1926, the brawl), although monochromatic, held my attention for some time. It is an image in gray tones of two groups of Futurists fighting each other. I don’t want to read more into it than the artist intended, but one can perhaps see in it a reflection of the divisions in Italian society at that time, the struggle of the Socialists against the Fascists. Or perhaps the painting was simply a reflection of the Futurists’ love of violence.
Another work presaging trouble to come was Tullio Crali’s Incuneandesi nell’ abitato (1939) (Nosedive on the city), whose kamikaze-like image was surely thought of differently after the war.
In the same room as Depero’s La rissa, was to be found a sound installation producing a cacophony of noises that Futurists held dear: machine noses, automobile noises, voices, whatever.
Very difficult to find elsewhere is the very interesting display of Futurist theater props, which Depero made for the play Le Chat du Rossignol (1917). In addition to the props, there are to be seen many brightly colored marionettes, also from Depero, the Marionetti per i balli plastici (1918).
Sculptures on display included Depero’s Martellatori (1923, Hammerers), a work showing the close connection between Futurism and Russian cubo-futurism. This sculpture bears a striking similarity to the Russian avant-garde art of the early Soviet years.
Futurism was an artistic movement with a long life-span beginning with Marinetti in 1909 and lasting up until the beginning of the second world war.
Though the majority of the works on display come from Futurism’s first decade, the exhibition has a real richness and depth. It is a fascinating and informative introduction to an art movement which has had a marked influence on dadaism and surrealism; cultural movements with which people in present-day society still have a close connection.
A beautiful catalog of the exhibition is available.
reviewed by Gary Levinson
review © 2009 Levinson
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