The Manifest Image

This week we take a look at the second part of Electrical War, written by F.T. Marinetti. It was originally publishes in Le Futurisme (1911), but was re-released in 1915 in two parts: The Birth of a Futurist Aesthetic and A Futurist Vision Hypothesis (the section we are analysing today).

In an exciting return to form, Marinetti brings to life his vision of a futurist tomorrow. With poverty and disease resolved, and human beings no longer having to work to live, the text has a strangely utopian flavour you might not expect. Does he predict tablets, kindles, and Ikea? Listen to find out.

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We return again to the key Futurist thinker, F.T.Marinetti; to consider his “Electrical War”

First published in French, in 1911, in Le Futurisme, as a single piece. However, by 1915, when translating it, he divided it into two: the first part was renamed, “The Birth of a Futurist Aesthetic”, in Italian, “Nascita di un’estetica futurista”, while its second part was named, “Electrical War (Futurist Vision-Hypothesis)”, in Italian, “La guerra elettrica [Visione-ipotesi futurista]”.

This week we tackle the first part. A very different format, Marinetti eases us into his futurist world. Picking on modern life and it’s secularism, passion for hygiene, democracy and comfort, he uses modern life as impassible wall, separating us from the past and forcing us to ascent to his metal future. By the end of the first part, he has returned to his shocking brutality, discussing the practice of digging up graves to grind up human bones to make an artificial coal.

A very different Manifesto and one that will challenge your core thoughts on Futurism.

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Futurism, War, and The Multiplied Man by The Manifest Image

This week, we continue looking into Futurism’s conception of women as well as start to explore Futurist politics, namely through the issue of women’s suffrage. We start with Futurism And Woman by Margaret Wynne Nevinson (1910), a Futurist critic, and continue with Contempt For Woman by F.T. Marinetti (1911), later translated as Against Love And Parliamentarianism. Through these texts we see Marinetti’s position regarding parliamentarianism (he’s against it) and Nevinson’s short and witty characterisation of Futurism based on one evening at the Lyceum Club.

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[Includes a mention of sexual violence]. This week we look at the Futurist Manifesto of Lust proclaimed by Valentine de Saint-Point in Paris’ Salle Gaveau on the eve of war in 1913. In it she will declare lust a force, the primal drive from which creative energies flow, and impel us to free it from the smothering effect of sentimentality.

Her provocation is not only exciting and beautifully written, but it marks a significant addition to the futurist corpus and widens the breadth and theoretical subtlety of the project.

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Referenced in the episode:

The Manifesto: https://www.unknown.nu/futurism/lust.html

Silvia Contarini: Valentine de Saint-Point a Futurist Woman? https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110422818-006/html

Tate Modern: https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-16-summer-2009/action-feminine

The futurist’s scorn for women is famously controversial. This week, to dig further into this facet of the movement, we look at Valentine de St Point’s response to F.T. Marinetti in her “The Manifesto Of The Futurist Woman.” St Point expands the Futurist provocation and leaves plenty of questions about the movement’s liberating potential as well as its fundamental shortcomings.

Venice has always been a dramatic setting for artistic expression, for the Futurists however it represented the decadent stagnation they so despised. This week we look at the Futurist manifesto “Against Passeist Venice”–sometimes translated as “Against Traditionalist Venice”– a screed against all those who love Venice for its past, its old palaces, and slow, easy going canals. But for all their declared hatred of Venice, the Futurists would keep going back year after year to host heated evenings (seratas) in the La Fenice theatre. In the end the city served as stunning a backdrop for their politicking and artistic expression as it has for centuries of artists and lovers.

The text can be found in Futurism an Anthology.

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While we get the Patreon up and running enjoy some free bonus content. This week we look at Umberto Boccioni’s splendid triptych States of Mind (The Farewells, Those Who Go, Those Who Stay), Thomas reads some Rimbaud, and Ariel makes some puerile jokes.

(Boccioni) States Of Mind I: The Farewells

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78648

(Boccioni) States Of Mind II: Those Who Go

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78653

(Boccioni) States Of Mind III: Those Who Stay

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78660

So far we’ve seen the theory behind a futurist aesthetic, but this week we look at Boccioni et al. try and make specific sense of what that would entail in Futurist Painting: A Technical Manifesto. We will cover Divisionism, Pointillism and other aspects of Impressionism to understand what makes a painting specifically Futurist while talking through examples by Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, among others as well as some paintings by non-Futurists, like Giovanni Segantini, who greatly influenced them.

Also in this episode: the rejection of the critic, a whirling life of steel, and the call for a 10 year moratorium on the nude in painting.

PS: We do not yet have a Patreon, enjoy some bonus content on us.

The Manifesto: https://www.unknown.nu/futurism/techpaint.html

The Paintings:

Previati Gaetano, “La Danza delle Ore”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Artgate_Fondazione_Cariplo_-_Previati_Gaetano,_La_Danza_delle_Ore.jpg

Giovanni Segantini, “The Punishment of Lust”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Punishment_of_Lust

Giovanni Segantini, “The Evil Mothers”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Evil_Mothers_by_Giovanni_Segantini.jpg

Medardo Rosso, “Bookmaker”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Medardo_rosso,_bookmaker,_1902-03,_bronzo.jpg

Medardo Rosso, “Invalid in Hospital”

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/invalid-in-hospital-by-medardo-rosso-sculpture-in-patinated-news-photo/173458208

Carlo Carrà, “The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funeral_of_the_Anarchist_Galli

Giacomo Balla, “Speeding Automobile”

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79343

Giacomo Balla, “Street Light”

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78382

Giacomo Balla, “Dynamism of a Dog on a leash”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamism_of_a_Dog_on_a_Leash

Gino Severini, “Souvenirs de Voyage”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gino_Severini,_1911,_Souvenirs_de_Voyage,_oil_on_canvas,_47_x_75_cm,_private_collection.jpg

Gino Severini, “Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabrin”

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79419

Luigi Russolo, “Profumo”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luigi_Russolo_-_Profumo_(1910).jpg

Luigi Russolo, “Solidity of Fog”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luigi_Russolo_solidity-of-fog-1912.jpg

Luigi Russolo, “Plastic Synthesis of Movements of a Woman”

https://arthistoryproject.com/artists/luigi-russolo/plastic-synthesis-of-movements-of-a-woman/

Umberto Boccioni, “The Laugh”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Umberto_Boccioni_-_Laughter.jpg

Umberto Boccioni, “The Riot”

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79278

Umberto Boccioni, “Three Women”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_Women_by_Umberto_Boccioni,_1910.jpg

Umberto Boccioni, “The City Rises”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_Rises

This week, we look at the Manifesto of The Futurist Painters, the group’s first attempt at translating Marinetti’s passionate prose into a visual medium. Legend has it that it was written by Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, and Luigi Russolo in a café in Milan over the course of a single day, with F.T. Marinetti swooping in at nightfall to spruce it up.

This being a podcast we thought it essential to look at some paintings. If our florid descriptions are not enough for you the paintings are available in the links below, as is the text of the manifesto.

The Manifesto

https://www.unknown.nu/futurism/painters.html

Previati Gaetano, “La Danza delle Ore”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Artgate_Fondazione_Cariplo_-_Previati_Gaetano,_La_Danza_delle_Ore.jpg

Giovanni Segantini, “The Punishment of Lust”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Punishment_of_Lust

Giovanni Segantini, “The Evil Mothers”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Evil_Mothers_by_Giovanni_Segantini.jpg

Medardo Rosso, “Bookmaker”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Medardo_rosso,_bookmaker,_1902-03,_bronzo.jpg

Medardo Rosso, “Invalid in Hospital”

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/invalid-in-hospital-by-medardo-rosso-sculpture-in-patinated-news-photo/173458208

Carlo Carrà, “The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funeral_of_the_Anarchist_Galli

Giacomo Balla, “Speeding Automobile”

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79343

Giacomo Balla, “Street Light”

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78382

Giacomo Balla, “Dynamism of a Dog on a leash”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamism_of_a_Dog_on_a_Leash

Gino Severini, “Souvenirs de Voyage”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gino_Severini,_1911,_Souvenirs_de_Voyage,_oil_on_canvas,_47_x_75_cm,_private_collection.jpg

Gino Severini, “Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabrin”

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79419

Luigi Russolo, “Profumo”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luigi_Russolo_-_Profumo_(1910).jpg

Luigi Russolo, “Solidity of Fog”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luigi_Russolo_solidity-of-fog-1912.jpg

Luigi Russolo, “Plastic Synthesis of Movements of a Woman”

https://arthistoryproject.com/artists/luigi-russolo/plastic-synthesis-of-movements-of-a-woman/

Umberto Boccioni, “The Laugh”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Umberto_Boccioni_-_Laughter.jpg

Umberto Boccioni, “The Riot”

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79278

Umberto Boccioni, “Three Women”

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_Women_by_Umberto_Boccioni,_1910.jpg

Umberto Boccioni, “The City Rises”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_Rises