The first major exhibition focused on Futurism to take place in Britain for 30 years opened at Tate Modern on 12 June.
The movement began in Italy in 1909, when poet Filippo Marinetti published his Manifesto calling for a radical overthrow of established artistic thinking.
The Futurists embraced all that was modern, their paintings breaking up the human form to grasp at the relationship between people and a seemingly unstoppable cascade of technological innovations, while celebrating the drama of the aeroplane, the motor car and electric light.
The exhibition’s curator, Matthew Gale, says: ‘We’re trying to look at ways in which Futurism could be re-thought, especially because a lot of the things they were getting excited about are still part of our world today.’
Certainly, political protest was a feature of many Futurist works. On show at the Tate is Carlo Carra’s 1911 painting Funeral of the Anarchist, Galli (above). This is a swirling, violent creation depicting a clash between protesters and the police.
‘It is as if a vortex is being created in that painting,’ says Gale. ‘Space opens up in front of the viewer as if they’re being pulled into it until they are standing next to the central figure of a demonstrator.
‘The movement saw political argument in the street as a valid subject. They were revolutionaries in many respects and many were particularly engaged with anarchism – with contacts to a penumbral political world.’
Dealing with revolution of a different kind are works such as Gino Severini’s The Dance of the Pan-Pan au Monico. Here, a packed dancefloor vibrates with colour and activity under eye-popping electric lights. ‘It shows a sense of how city life is charged by electricity and the excitement of the new and the flirtatious interaction with strangers. The pan-pan was the dance of the time,’ says Gale.
But there is perhaps a sense of desperation and transience about the brightly lit dancers. And there is every reason there might be. The Futurists advocated war as a way of upsetting the establishment and forging progress. As their artistic movement developed, however, so Europe rapidly slid towards the conflict of 1914-1918.
The final room at the Tate’s show looks at how some in the Futurist ranks portrayed aspects of that conflict. CRW Nevinson’s Bursting Shell, for example, depicts an explosion above a ruined street – its searing light jaggedly tearing apart the night sky. Jacob Epstein’s The Rock Drill, meanwhile, depicts a helmeted figure that is half-man, half-machine, an alien vision that summons up images of gas-masked-clad soldiers on the Western Front. The Futurists may have embraced the concept of war, but they soon realised what a catastrophe it was.
Futurism is at Tate Modern, London SE1, from 12 June until 20 September. Details: (+44) (0) 20 7887 8888; tate.org.uk/modern
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