I have a great love for typography and interesting graphic design. On a recent antique flea market shopping trip I snapped a picture of a book jacket from a book called Futurism: The Museum of Modern Art New York. At the time I didn’t pay any attention to what the book was about or what was inside. This weekend I was sorting through a bunch of photos and ran across this one, having completely forgotten I ever took it. Curiosity getting the best of me, I decided to learn what I could about this most interesting title. It turns out the book is an exhibition guide written by Joshua C. Taylor for an art exhibit about Futurism that took place at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City from May 31–September 5, 1961.

Futurism is a fairly complex art and social movement that was initiated in Italy during the early 20th century by Thomas Marinetti (I’ll try to simplify…thank you Wikipedia and artyfacts.info). A movement set forth by an agenda written by Marinetti called The Futurist Manifesto, it was initially published in 1909 in the French newspaper Le Figaro. Its purpose was to create change and embrace the new technology of the machine age and the advances made in science that brought about electricity, automobiles, and ship liners. Choosing Paris, the art capital of the world, as a place to lobby for this new movement, the manifesto argued for artists to look to the present for their subject matter and technique instead of painting historical, mythological or religious subjects. The first painters to embrace Futurism were Giacomo Balla, Gino Severini, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, and Umberto Boccioni.

In Joshua C. Taylor’s Futurism exhibition guide, he states:

“The Futurist artists…set out to create an art as exhilarating as Marinetti’s promise. They translated the kinetic rhythms and the confused, intense sensations of modern life into potent visual form, creating works of art of extraordinary emotional impact. The Futurists’ approach to art, their manifestos and demonstrations set a pattern for many art movements which followed, such as Constructivism, Dada, and Surrealism…and the sympathy between certain Futurist procedures and current endeavors is largely responsible for the growing interest in Futurism.” -Joshua C. Taylor

Some of my favorite works from the exhibition include…

In a painting by Giacomo Balla called Dog On A Leash from 1912, movement is shown as a dog walks alongside its master. Slowing down a scene that we all see, but never in a still, this painting is inspired by photographs of people moving.

Patriotic Celebration from 1914 is an artwork collage and free word painting in the Futurist style. Artist Carlo Carrà pursued a concept of total art which incorporated a desire to go beyond the bounds of traditional art. His methods combined adaptations of synthetic Cubist notions and free-word structures. His free-word "painting" with a propagandist intention is made from various "real" materials of communication containing lettering (newspapers, leaflets and labels). It also contains within itself certain noise implications through the representations of onomatopoeic sounds.

The goal of Futurist painters was to capture the “dynamic sensation” by being aware of the fact that objects and individuals did not exist in isolation to their surroundings, but rather they weave into each other and are seen in relation to other objects and subjects. It was also essential to depict the objects as constantly moving. Each painter proceeded to develop an art form that would be able to translate this dynamic sensation onto canvas. To heighten or emphasize this aspect, painters experimented with different painting techniques, borrowing from the divisionists and developments in photography. Using the notion of simultaneity, they would represent a galloping horse by several repeated leg movements. The Futurist technique showed no boundaries, making it difficult to tell where one subject ends and the other begins. Movement is expressed by clearly defined horizontals or verticals.

I continue to be fascinated with the various art movements that have influenced where art is today. The futurist movement was significant, and affected painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, theater, film, fashion, textiles, literature, music, architecture, and even gastronomy.