Futurism 100 at the Estorick Collection

Drawings and Sculptures by Umberto Boccioni and Luca Buvoli

Jan 12, 2009

100 years ago Filippo Marinetti issued his Futurist Manifesto. Umberto Boccioni developed Marinetti's ideas and 100 years later Luca Buvoli continues to explore Futurism.

The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art is celebrating the centenary of the Futurist movement by presenting Futurism 100! comprising two exhibitions which will run simultaneously: Unique Forms: The Drawing and Sculpture of Umberto Boccioni and Luca Buvoli: Velocity Zero.

The Futurist Manifesto

On 20th February 1909 the Italian poet and dramatist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944) published Founding and Manifesto of Futurism in the Parisian newspaper, Le Figaro. In doing so he gave a name - Futurism - to an evolving artistic movement that celebrated the machine, rejected the art of the past, and called for the destruction of museums!

Marinetti and his followers were captivated by cars, machines, electricity, speed, noise and violence. Their art portrayed what they saw around them: the motion and commotion of the modern city.

The movement encompassed architecture, painting, the decorative arts, sculpture, music, photography and typography, as well as performance and theatrical design. Artists involved in Futurism included Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, Giacomo Balla, Gino Severini, Umberto Boccioni, Ardengo Soffici, the musician Francesco Balilla Pratella, the writer Giovanni Papini and the architect Antonio Sant'Elia, renowned for his vision of La Città Nuova (The New City, 1914).

Unique Forms is the first exhibition devoted entirely to the work of Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) to be held in Britain for many years. As a dominant figure of the Futurist movement and its most enthusiastic advocate, Boccioni analysed motion and depicted it vividly in his paintings.

The exhibition includes twenty pieces by the artist drawn from the Estorick's own permanent collection as well as from Italian, French and British museums.

Boccioni published his Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture in April 1912, long before he had actually experimented with the new ideas. He maintained that:

"…a Futurist composition in sculpture will embody the marvellous mathematical and geometrical elements that made up the objects of our time."

Boccioni made his debut as a sculptor in Paris in June 1913 with the presentation of eleven pieces at the Galerie La Boetie. The bronze statue Unique Forms of Continuity in Space is one of only four pieces that survive.

100 years later Marinetti's ideas are still being explored and developed by contemporary artist Luca Buvoli (1973-). An Italian-born artist, based in the United States, Buvoli explores Futurism through the media of film and video, sculpture, drawing and installation and allies himself closely with the work of Boccioni.

Excepts from: Velocity Zero, the centrepiece of the exhibition, has been specially commissioned by the Estorick Collection. Speakers read aloud sections of Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto. Their voices are contrasted with the ideals advocated by the Futurists such as noise, speed, aggression and efficiency. The film is shown in a gallery enhanced by murals, sculptures and posters by Buvoli.

The installation also features a second animated film entitled A Very Beautiful Day After Tomorrow, inspired by Marinetti's words. The photographs below show two stills from Buvoli's animation.

The two exhibitions comprising Futurism 100! will run from 14th January - 19th April 2009. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, Unique Forms: The Drawing and Sculpture of Umberto Boccioni. The publication has an introduction by curator Francesca Pietropaolo, who has worked at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the 52nd International Venice Biennale.

The copyright of the article Futurism 100 at the Estorick Collection in Special Art Gallery Exhibits is owned by Frances Spiegel. Permission to republish Futurism 100 at the Estorick Collection in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.