The following articles focus on the history, origins, concepts, and influences within the Futurism art movement.
Italian Futurism: An Introduction
Futurism - Looking Back at the Futurism Art Movement
Futurism: The Avant-Garde Art Movement Obsessed With Speed and Technology
Futurism Explained: Protest and Modernity in Art
Characteristics of Futurism Art Movement: A Complete Guide
Futurism vs Cubism: Comparisons and Differences
An Introduction to Italian Futurism 1906-1916 - Esoterick Collection of Modern Italian Art [video, 5 minutes]
Significant artists and artworks of the Futurist movement.
Famous Futurist Artists and Artworks [Futurism - Looking Back at the Futurist Art Movement - Art in Context]
Futurism - Blood, speed and violence [Obelisk]
This page contains articles on various Futurist artists. Clicking the 'Artwork' tab provides access to significant Futurist artworks and quotes about the movement. Don't miss viewing the second page with an additional 23 artworks.
31 Futurism Artists You Should Know About [Artlex]
51 Amazing Futurism Artworks You Should See [Artlex]
Futurism - Smart History [video, 11 minutes]
This video provides a description, historical perspective, and analysis of three significant Futurist artworks: Giacomo Balla's Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash; Gino Severini's Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin (skip to 6:12); and Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (skip to 8:11).
The Esoterick Collection of Modern Italian Art
Britain's only museum devoted to modern Italian art holds some of the most important works created by Italian artists during the first half of the twentieth century. The museum has a strong core of Futurist artworks. Use this site to investigate the lives and works of a variety of Futurist artists.
Biographies of Umberto Boccioni:
Umberto Boccioni - Google Arts and Culture
Umberto Boccioni (Italian, 1882-1916) - artnet
Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) - Metropolitan Museum of Art
An overview of the artist and his accomplishments. This page also includes links to a full biography, his artistic influences, progression, and legacy, important artworks, and additional resources.
As one of the most influential and prominent artists of Italian Futurism, Umberto Boccioni produced not just paintings but significant Futurist sculpture as well. The following resources discuss three of Boccioni's artworks and take a closer look at perhaps his best known sculpture, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space.
Umberto Boccioni and the Futurist City (The City Rises)
Umberto Boccioni, "Dynamism of a Soccer Player" [video, 1 minute 39 seconds]
Testa + Luce + Ambiente
"Once again we hurl our defiance at the stars". Boccioni's Futurist Vision
First Look: Boccioni's Daring and Dynamic Vision [video, 1 minute 28 seconds]
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
The Dynamism of Italian Futurism, Boccioni - UNIQLO ARTSPEAKS (Unique Forms of Continuity in Space - MoMA) [video, 2 minutes 27 seconds]
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913) by Umberto Boccioni (Famous Sculptures - A Look at History's Most Famous Sculptures - artincontext)
Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space - Khan Academy
5 minutes with . . . Umberto Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space [includes video (1 min 46 sec)]
Boccioni 100: A Future Cast in Bronze
Barry X Ball Makes a 3D-Printed, Digitally Altered, Gold-Plated Sculpture
See Boccioni's works at the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, via Obelisk, and at the National Gallery of Art. Click on an artwork to discover more about it.
Biographies of Giacomo Balla:
Giacomo Balla - Google Arts and Culture
Giacomo Balla (Italian, 1871 - 1958) - artnet
A founding member of the Futurist art movement Giacomo Balla focused on representing light, movement, and speed through his artworks. The following resources take a closer look at his works and influence.
Giacomo Balla, Street Light - Khan Academy
Giacomo Balla (1871 - 1958) (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash) (Modern Art - An Exploration of the 20th Century Modernist Movement - artincontext)
How Italian Futurism Influenced Fashion
Casa Balla: From the house to the universe and back
For thirty years Giacomo Balla worked to turn his family home into a work of art. In 2021 it was opened to the public in conjunction with a thematic exhibition of work hosted by MAXXI (National Museum of 21st Century Arts) in Rome. Included in the exhibition resources are an overview, short subtitled video, and bilingual mini-guide.
- Casa Balla. Dalla casa all'universo e ritorno [video, 4 minutes, English subtitles]
See Balla's works via Obelisk, Sotheby's, and the National Gallery of Art. Click on an artwork to discover more about it.
Biographies of Gino Severini:
Gino Severini - Google Arts and Culture
Gino Severini (Italian, 1883 - 1966) - artnet
An overview of the artist and his accomplishments. This page also includes links to: a full biography; his artistic legacy, progression, and influences; important artworks; and additional resources.
One of the most progressive twentieth-century Italian artists, Gino Severini's Futurist artworks focused on contemporary urban life, often using dancers rather than machinery as subject matter. The following resources take a closer look at some of his works.
Futurist Free Word Painting (Serpentine Dancer and Sea = Dancer)
Gino Severini, Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin
Key Artwork of the Esoterick Collection: Gino Severini 'The Boulevard', (1910-11) [video, 2 minutes]
See Severini's works at the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and via Obelisk. Click on an artwork to discover more about it.
Check the non-fiction section at 759 for resources about painters and their artworks.
The Usborne Book of Art
Contains hundreds of works of art from the world's major collections. Photographs or artworks are combined with informative text, a timeline, biographic details of major artists, and an extensive glossary of key terms. Internet links to recommended websites allow readers to access online games and activities as well as lots more works of art.
50 Art Ideas You Really Need to Know by
The ultimate guide to the most important ideas in art through the ages
Futurism Basic Art by
Inspired by the development of Cubism, the Futurist movement was founded in 1909 by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, along with painters Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carr?, and Gino Severini. The school, which celebrated technology and the mechanical era, was comprised of painters, sculptors, designers, architects, and writers. Motion and machines were two main themes of this movement, which attacked the bastions of establishment and sparked controversy by its glorification of war and support of Fascism. Experimenting with movement, and speed, and abstract light and color, the Futurists developed approaches and techniques that were revolutionary at the time, and in retrospect one can see that the Futurists influenced other avant-garde art movements, most notably Russian Constructivism.
Global Art by
Jessica Lack introduces fifty pioneering modern and contemporary art movements born out of political engagement, decolonization, marginalization or conflict. These movements have aimed to revitalize society by challenging the status quo. While not as well known as Pop Art, Dada and Futurism, these associations of artists - such as the Saqqakhaneh artists of Iran, the Stridentists of Mexico, Jikken Kobo of Japan or America's AfriCobra - have empowered and given voice to their members. Global Art brings unfamiliar material to life by exploring the unique historical context for each art movement, key cultural events and interconnections, and the key protagonists in the movement's evolution.
The visual arts : a world survey from prehistoric times to the present, with special references to Australia
The fourth edition of "The Visual Arts"has been fully revised and updated. Whilst the identity of this longstanding and popular text has been maintained, several new features make this edition even more useful for Australian students of the visual arts. a new chapter surveying photography in Australia, featuring a selection of new illustrations a chapter discussing developments in Aboriginal art from early times to the present, illustrated with eighteen new colour images and a map increased coverage of Australian women artists with several new prints a brief glossary of terms to assist readers new to the language of visual arts a time-line to show the relationship between different movements diagrammatically streamlined material on international and Australian art and architecture in the 1970s and 1980s.
Check out the following resources for some additional reading.
Boccioni: A Retrospective by Ester Coen
This book traces the life and career of the Italian artist Umberto Boccioni, discusses his connection to the Futurist movement, and looks at his paintings, drawings, and sculpture. With permission from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the full text is available online.
The Graphic Work of Umberto Boccioni by Joseph C. Taylor
This catalogue includes a large portion of Boccioni's existing graphic works, enabling an understanding of his artistic development and the chronology of his stylistically varied body of work. The full text is available online via the Museum of Modern Art.
Gino Severini's Dancers and His Theatrical Milieu by Maria Haidinger
This article from the Providence College Art Journal investigates Gino Severini's use of dancer and dancehall subject matter in his artworks, and it relates to his artistic style, as well as the influence of other artists of the time. Images of the paintings discussed - Dance of the Pan Pan at the Monaco (1911); Blue Dancer (1912); and Dancer at Pigalle (1912) - are included in the endnotes.
See the Futurism exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This exhibition page provides access to exhibition resources, installation images, and links to resources about the artists involved.
Read the following press releases to find out more about the exhibition:
The page also provides access to a PDF of Joshua C. Taylor's book, Futurism.
Check the following pages for information about:
Giacomo Balla - page 63 of PDF (book page 59)
Gino Severini - page 70 of PDF (book page 66)
Umberto Boccioni - page 88 of PDF (book page 84)