Futurism is a modern art movement that emerged in the early years of the twentieth century, and that he defended the end of moralism, denying the past and applauding the technological and industrial revolution.
This movement was consolidated from the publication of the Futuristic Manifesto, authored by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876 – 1944), on February 20, 1909, in the French newspaper Le Figaro.
The basic concept of Futurism was one of denial and total disconnection from the art and culture of the past, celebrating and recognizing only progress, new technologies and urban life, ideas that were represented by the senses of intense speed and energy.
Historically, Futurism is divided into two parts: pre-war and post-war. In the so-called “first futurism”, the most extreme representatives of the movement exalted the ideas of violence and war, as they thought that in this way they would be able to “sanitize” the world.
In fact, originally, Futurism, in its social-political discourse, was a defender of fascist ideals
Among some of the main artists representing Futurism are: Umberto Boccioni (1882 – 1916), Luigi Russolo (1885) – 1947), Carlo Carrà (1881 – 1966), Giacomo Balla (1871 – 1958), Gino Severini (1883 – 1966) and Fortunato Depero (1892 – 1960).
The Futurist movement has languished over the years, finding its end after World War I. However, several of its aesthetic features inspired other artistic styles, such as the Dadaism, O surrealism it's the cubism, for example.
Learn more about the meaning of Dadaism, Surrealism It's from Cubism.
Some of the characteristics of the futurist movement still influenced and manifested themselves in other styles, such as architecture, for example.
Characteristics of Futurism
Among some of the main characteristics of this artistic movement, the following stand out:
- Valorization of technological and industrial development in the beginning of the 20th century;
- Repudiation and devaluation of moralism and traditions;
- Use of advertising as the main form of communication;
- Use of onomatopoeias in literary futurism;
- Works that conveyed the idea of speed and acceleration;
- Poetry with fragmented sentences (idea of speed);
- Paintings with bright and contrasting colors;
- Overlapping of images and deformed lines, which conveyed the idea of movement.
Futurism in Literature
Initially, Futurism emerged as a literary artistic movement, with greater influence mainly on Italian poetry.
Under the motto "freedom for words", the futuristic manifesto created by Marinetti defined the themes that served as parameters for the first members of this movement: refusal of morality and past times and the valorization of urban, modern and accelerated.
Some of the writers known for representing the ideas of the futurist movement were: Vladimir Maiakovski, Filippo Marinetti, Fernando Pessoa and Oswald de Andrade, among others.
Futurism in Brazil
Among Brazilian modernist artists, the futurist movement had an influence mainly on the works of Anita Malfatti and Oswald de Andrade. Both came into contact with the Futurist Manifesto and used several of its ideas and concepts in some of their works.
However, Brazilian artists did not seek to reproduce European standards. They were eager to define an original and proper identity for national production.
Learn more about meaning of modern art and read about The Types of Art.
