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Marinetti Futurism Essay

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Marinetti addressed the “death” of traditional art in his Futurist Manifesto of 1909 when he stated “Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed” (2001 21-2). Marinetti, among with artists of the Futurist, Vorticist and Constructivist movements of the 20th century, believed that mechanisation was fundamental to creating a new future where machines played a vital role in modern society. The traditional style of painting and sculpture — in accordance to Futurist principles — had no place in this new future. In this adapt-or-die situation, artists Umberto Boccioni and Jacob Epstein responded to the world of machines by incorporating techniques learned from their past …show more content…

From viewing a painting as a single moment in time to trying to capture motion and movement within a single frame, painting in the early 20th century went through radical changes in order to keep up with mechanisation entrancing the modern world. Boccioni was an Italian artist who created work in the Divisionism style (where the colours are separated by singular, precise brushstrokes or dots while still maintaining visual harmony), which according to Black “was the variant of French Impressionism” (2004 10). Despite initially still incorporating old techniques into Futurist artworks The City Rises (1910-11) and Dynamism of a Cyclist (1913), that were meant to represent concepts of the new world, Boccioni captured the essence of the Futurists key

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