What has always made any widespread acceptance of Futurism problematic is above all its unholy alliance with Mussolini and Fascism as well as its endorsement of war as a means of modernization. From today's point of view, Futurism is the most politically incorrect of all the major twentieth century art movements. Its founder and leading proponent, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, was in fact co-author of the original 1919 Fascist Manifesto and one of Mussolini's earliest and most ardent supporters. In its introduction to Italian Futurism 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe, the exhibition website acknowledges this point:
"The Futurists’ celebration of war as a means to remake Italy and their support of Italy’s entrance into World War I also constitute part of the movement’s narrative, as does the later, complicated relationship between Futurism and Italian fascism."
Beyond this, on an aesthetic level, Futurism suffered from a lack of great artists and original themes. While such artists as Marinetti, Benedetta Cappa (his wife), Umberto Boccioni, and Gino Severini may have been extremely talented, they lacked true genius and were often better theorists than craftsmen. In certain respects, the plans the Futurists promoted for modernizing architecture and design were similar to those put forth by the German Bauhaus but were less far reaching and ultimately had less lasting impact. Ironically, one reason for Futurism's failure to impress itself more fully on popular culture was Mussolini's and right wing Fascists' preference for a more classical style that eschewed modernism in all its forms.
In painting, much of the Futurist style was derived from other European influences such as Divisionism, Cubism and Surrealism and showed little innovation of its own. Increasingly, Futurist works displayed a graphic quality that anticipated some elements of pop art, a trend that can be seen most clearly in Fortunato Depero's ads for Campari. The inclusion of graphic elements is also increasingly evident in Futurism's final phase, Aeropittura ("Inspired by Flight"), that focused on the airplane as the icon of the modern world and concerned itself with imagery inspired by air travel. Some of these works resemble poster art more than they do painting. The two best examples are Tullio Crali's 1939 Prima che si apra il paracadute ("Before the Parachute Opens") which rivals the era's best war photography for pure excitement, and Guglielmo Sansoni's Sorvolando in spirale il Colosseo [Spirilata] ("Flying over the Coliseum in a Spiral [Spiraling]"), also from 1939.
Two other areas of interest that the exhibit touches upon are photography and architecture. The best examples of the former came early in the Futurist movement, circa 1911, when Anton Giulio Bragaglia, working with his photographer brother, developed a style termed "photodynamism" that attempted to depict motion rather than to freeze it. The technique leaned heavily on the earlier discoveries of photography pioneers Eadweard Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey. As far as architecture, the most noteworthy feature of the designs of Antonio Sant'Elia, Mario Chiattone and Virgilio Marchi is how few of them were actually executed. Even now their stark modernity comes as something of a shock. It's interesting to speculate how different today's cities might look if these designs from the World War I era had ever been fully implemented.
However one may feel about Futurism itself, there can be no doubt that the Guggenheim has done a magnificent job in staging this exhibit under the direction of senior curator Vivien Greene. It is as comprehensive an overview of this movement as one is likely to see. If the show does not often rise to the level of true greatness, the fault lies not with the presentation but with the lack of depth in the artworks themselves.
The exhibit continues through September 1, 2014.
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