Futurism Exhibition at Tate Modern, London

Futurist Art Movement Was Established by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

Jun 28, 2009

The work of the Futurists is featuring in an exhibition at London's Tate Modern. The show marks one hundred years since the publication of the Futurist Manifesto in 1909.

Tate Modern is showing the first major exhibition of Futurism in Britain for 30 years. The show marks the centenary of the publication of The Founding and First Manifesto of Futurism in 1909. The Tate's show features works previously displayed in the Futurist exhibition of 1912, a show that started in Paris and travelled across Europe. The 2009 exhibition examines the impact of the 1912 show on the Parisian, British and Russian avant-garde.

What is Futurism?

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti called for the modernisation of Italian art and social attitudes. He was soon joined by Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo and Gino Severini. The group rejected the art and culture of the past and embraced modern technology such as cars and trams, the Machine Age, the excitement and speed of city life and the violence of war. The Futurists called on elements of Cubism and Divisionism to create a new style remote from the old artistic traditions.

Futurism – About the Exhibition

The exhibition, which examines the work of the Futurists and the responses from other artists, includes work by Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni,David Bomberg, Georges Braque, Carlo Carrà, Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Jacob Epstein, Natalya Goncharova, Wyndham Lewis, C.R.W. Nevinson, Pablo Picasso, Liubov Popova, Luigi Russolo and Gino Severini.

Highlights of the exhibition include Umberto Boccioni's sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913). Unique Forms resembles both man and machine striding forward confidently. The artist believed this piece was his best work.

Also on display is Carlo Carrà’s Funeral of the Anarchist, Galli (oil on canvas, 1911). Carrà, present at Angelo Galli's funeral, captures the violent scuffle that occurred when police, fearing the funeral would become a political demonstration, refused to allow the mourners to enter the cemetery.

The exhibition features The Arrival (oil on canvas, 1913) by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson and The Hospital Train (oil on canvas, 1915) by Gino Severini, loaned by Stedelijk Museum.

The exhibition examines the responses to Futurism with works such as Robert Delaunay's Eiffel Tower (oil on canvas, 1911), Jacob Epstein's Torso in Metal from the Rock Drill (metal sculpture, 1913-14) and Pablo Picasso’s Pipe, Glass, Bottle of Vieux Marc (wood pulp paper, newspaper, charcoal, India ink, printer's ink, graphite, and gouache on canvas,1914) onto which he pasted the Futurist periodical, Lacerba.

The exhibition was created by Didier Ottinger of the Pompidou Centre, Paris, where the show opened in October 2008. After a successful showing in Rome the display is now curated at Tate by Matthew Gale, Head of displays, Tate Modern.

The exhibition is accompanied by a full-colour catalogue that presents the latest scholarship and features more than 200 illustrations. The editor, Didier Ottinger, is supported by leading international art historians who reassess the work of the Futurist artists.

Further information about the exhibition and catalogue can be obtained from Tate Modern.

The copyright of the article Futurism Exhibition at Tate Modern, London in Traveling Art Exhibits is owned by Frances Spiegel. Permission to republish Futurism Exhibition at Tate Modern, London in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.