Futurism Essay

This feeling of power and patriotism is emulated from the first bar of ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’, in which the percussion section strikes on the first beat ‘very deliberately’ and at fortissimo volume. This immediacy presents the work’s force from the very

The first Manifesto I read was “The Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism” by Marinetti. Marinetti highlights various concepts behind the futurist movement. Throughout his manifesto he describes old versus new and personifies several places and machines. Like when he spoke of his automobile he said “We approach the the three panting beasts to stroke their burning breasts, full of love and admiration.” (Marinetti 643). He says that finally the old and mystical ideals and myths are far behind them. He portrays these engines as demonic, but however his description sounds he isn’t demonizing technology, he is in fact admiring it. He also encourages people to take these risky leaps of faith. He highlights the point that humans need conflict and revolutions bring out change.

Imagine, smoke in the air. Cloudy and gray outside, with sounds of carts being carried across rocky gravel. The shouts of people talking about politics, economy, and most important, the revolution. You can hear people yelling and disagreeing with others opinions. You are standing in the middle of the rocky road looking around, watching people’s actions, watching slaves work hard, watching women carry babies and holding their children’s hands. Kids leather shoes, clapping against the road, with laughter coming from their mouths. Dogs barking, horses pulling away from their riders. Everything is so busy and loud. You can barely hear yourself think. Shouts come from a small house across the road.

Rhythm and sounds in “The Trains” by William Heyen certainly enhance its meaning by placing emphasis on specific words or phrases. For example, there is repetition of the word “Treblinka” which indicates its significance during the war. Upon further research, Treblinka was one of the extermination camps in Nazi Germany during World War II. Therefore, the repetition indicates its significance and infamy in world history. Additionally, there is a great deal of alliteration used throughout this poem.

During the early 20th century an artistic and social movement originated in Italy and was known as futurism. It was an innovation in technology. A similar movement was also occurring in Russia France England and etc. The persons who practiced such phenomenon were known as futurists. Futurists practiced in every art aspect that there was. Such as music, poetry painting theater etc. In each different part of Europe where futurism was evolving there were unique artists arising. Such Luigi Russolo Vladimir Mayakovsky Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Richard Wagner and Claude Debussy amongst others.

A silent shadow, blurred from the crowd, standing still. Waving hands, the earth's stood silent, one footstep, the doors were opened. Man wielded by diverse flags, holding hands through the roaring floor. United was someone's words threw a microphone, communication was someone's finger in their ears. A train that accidentally dropped angry chickens, would fight their reasons, without a cause.

From 1919 on, Balla took on a new side in the art world, becoming involved the scientific viewpoint in society. He was one of the stand out figures in Futurism, and "Giacomo Balla (1871-1958)... was among others who signed the 'Manifesto of the Futurist Painters' during interwar years, were already inclined to an interest in the heated, fantasy mixed with modernist machine-worship and extremist political rhetoric of Marinetti's manifesto," (Richard Humphreys, Futurism). Along with many other artists, Balla signed the Futurist Manifesto during the interwar period to bring art into a new spectrum. The artists wanted to bring the aspect of science and innovation into art and used abstract shapes as a way to inspire individuals to view art through new perspective of innovative thinking. Giacomo became fascinated by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, where he first learned about the science behind speed and light when he heard that “First, Einstein showed that time, space, and matter are interdependent, as expressed in the famous formula e - mc2, where e is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light,” (World History in Context). Growing up, Balla's father was an industrial chemist, so he was born into the ideas of scientific reasoning, and as he lived through the interwar era, Balla took an interest in Speed and Light, which was stated in Einstein's Theory of Relativity. During the interwar period, Einstein's famous point was shown in many of his later pieces, influencing a lot of his progressive work, and he showed that in his first Futurist inspired piece titled, Abstract Speed - The Car Has Passed. “This painting is the first of a new and remarkable development in the direction of Futurism and exemplifies the way in which Balla’s professionalism brought him to results that were perfectly in tune with the times and, in some cases, led him to formal inventions that anticipated other

As I finally reached Main Square I was already out of breath, but what breath remained was snatched from my lungs by the scene that unfolded before me. A heaving mass of bodies amassed in the square. Deafening chants permeated the air mixing with the acrid scent of flares that some of the young crowd were lighting. One young man stood upon a makeshift stage with a megaphone blaring to the audience -

Dada, known for it’s chaotic nature, indirect protesting and iconoclasm also evolved into a political movement. Rejection of artistic mastery, defying authority, overprinting, and purposeful mistakes, where all a part of what Tristain Tzara and his contemporaries were trying to succeed. Cubism, Vorticism, Orphism, Purism, and Futurism also came about because of World War I. Heavily influenced by Cubism and it’s shattered glass appearance Futurism was the most politically mind of these five movements. Somewhat akin to Dada in it’s chaotic nature Futurist’s, however, were staunchly pro war and were looking for ways to bring Italy into the present times. Purism, on the other hand, took the collage look of synthetic Cubism and modern abstract style and made

Postmodernism is an artistic theory and a social mindset that sought to break the shackles of the so called modernist art society. Famous artist kept getting recognition as their pieces were critiqued by famous critics and was deemed ‘High art’, as it was separated and elevated from other art forms. This practice excluded the masses from being a part of the art of that time and reserved it for the high class society. Many artists rose to counteract this movement, one of which was Andy Warhol, who “emerged as specific reactions against the established forms of high modernism… which conquered… the art gallery”. (Jameson 111). Thus the post-modernism movement was in its essence a reaction against modern art ideas. Andy Warhol who gained fame in the 1960’s, characterized his pieces using all the elements from this movement. His work lacked any arbitrary meaning nor any deep ideas about the facets of human life or nature for example, and this exact idea changed the art world and made him a trailblazer of the postmodern art period. His creations embodied post modernistic ideals and illustrated it through his pieces and his use of the media.

To fully appreciate the differences and similarities between Postmodernism and Modernism, it is required to understand exactly what they are. Modernism is the term we give to the accumulated creations and activities of designers in the early 20th century, who had the theory that traditional forms of literature, religion, social organization, and most of all, art and architecture, had become outdated in the new social, political, and economic environment of a fully industrialised world. One of the main characteristics of Modernism is self-consciousness, which typically caused exstensive experimentations of form and function. The creative process of generating work was also explored, forming new techniques in design. Modernism rejected all ideology of realism and prefers to reference and parody works of the past. Postmodernism, on the other hand, is a radical rejection of Modernist design. Taking place in the late 20th century, it is a movement in art, criticism, and architecture that disputes the majority of modernist tendencies. The Postmodernist analysis of society and culture lead to the expansion of critical theory and advanced the works of architecture, literature, and design. This entire re-evaluation of the western value system of popular culture, love, marriage, economy, that took place from the 1950s and 60s, leading to the peak of the Social Revolution in 1968, is commonly referred as Postmodernity which influenced postmodern thought, as opposed to the term

I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out…. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known

Futurism was an artistic and social movement originating from 20th century Italy. The movement ultimately rejected anything that looked to the past for identity. Instead, it glorified speed, technology, youth, and the idea of anything industrial and mass-produced. As the founders of the movement would have it, the movement explored different mediums of art and design, ultimately overarching each other, and finding its way into many aspects of daily life; including and not limited to conventional mediums such as painting, sculpture architecture, film, music, poetry, and photography; just to name a few. With its dynamic and innovative aesthetic qualities, it is still being appreciated and used in conceptual ways by a handful of present day designers and art directors as seen in Image 1 (MCM

In this essay, I will be discussing the two movements ‘Dada’ and ‘Futurism’, with reference to their conceptual contexts and representative plays, there will also be analysis to how these two movements contrast to realism/ naturalism. Links will also be made to the plays, with the use of scholarly sources to back up the argument and then coming to a final conclusion at the end of the essay.

The beginning of 20th century was a time of drastic change. New developments were made in the arenas of the classical sciences, social science, psychology and philosophy - each challenging traditional thought. Industrialization and the introduction of many new, challenging concepts in the fields of politics as well as the development of new technologies gave artist more freedom to innovate and break the rules of traditional art. By using new materials, techniques and the new approach artists were pushing boundaries of what has previously been accepted art practice in order to invent radically new styles.