5.1 Futurism: ideology, key figures, and architectural manifestations
2 min read•august 5, 2024
, born in Italy in 1909, championed speed, technology, and modernity. Led by Marinetti and Sant'Elia, it rejected tradition and embraced a dynamic, machine-inspired aesthetic that influenced art and architecture.
Futurist architecture envisioned radical cityscapes with multilevel structures and . Though mostly unrealized, these bold ideas shaped modernist design, celebrating and .
Futurism Founders and Key Figures
Leading Futurist Artists
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launched the Futurist movement in 1909 with the publication of the
Umberto Boccioni was a prominent Futurist painter and sculptor known for works that captured the dynamic energy of modern life (Unique Forms of Continuity in Space)
Giacomo Balla experimented with capturing motion and speed in his Futurist paintings, often focusing on abstract light effects ( of a Dog on a Leash)
was the leading architect of Futurism who designed visionary, modernist buildings that celebrated technology and industry, though most remained unbuilt
Futurist Manifesto and Ideology
The Futurist Manifesto, written by Marinetti in 1909, laid out the core principles and aesthetics of the movement
Rejected tradition and embraced speed, technology, youth, and violence
Called for the sweeping away of established artistic and social norms to make way for a new modern world
Dynamism was a central concept in Futurist art that aimed to depict the sensation of movement and flux in static artworks
Achieved through techniques like blurring, repetition of forms, and abstract lines of force
The Futurists were obsessed with speed as the defining characteristic of modern life in the machine age
Sought to capture the exhilaration of racing cars, trains, and airplanes in their art and poetry
Technology and industry were seen by the Futurists as the driving forces of progress that would transform society
Glorified in their art through angular, and the incorporation of like metal and glass
Futurist Architectural Vision
Antonio Sant'Elia's 1914 drawing series (The New City) presented a radical vision of a future metropolis
integrated transportation networks, energy generators, and aerial walkways
Stripped of ornament and historical references in favor of sleek, functional forms
Hugely influential on later modernist architecture despite remaining hypothetical
The (House of Fascism), built in 1932-36 in Como, Italy, is considered the most important realized Futurist building
Designed by Giuseppe Terragni with a stark, asymmetrical facade of rectangular glass and concrete forms
Interior features dramatic light wells and cantilevered staircases that create a sense of kinetic energy
Other Futurist architects like Virgilio Marchi and Mario Chiattone produced visionary sketches and models of streamlined buildings and cities
Floating structures, ziggurat-like skyscrapers, and sweeping expressways
More provocative as ideas than practical as architecture, but shaped the modernist imagination