 |
| Umberto Boccioni Self-portrait 1910 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Self-portrait 1905 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni States of Mind: Those Who Go 1912 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) was the leading artist of Italian Futurism. During his short life, he produced some of the movement's iconic paintings and sculptures, capturing the color and dynamism of modern life in a style he theorized and defended in manifestos, books, and articles. Born in Reggio Calabria, Boccioni attended technical college in Catania, Sicily, and began his artistic career as a talented draftsman. He moved to Rome in 1899 to train as an artist, first taking drawing lessons with Giovanni Maria Mataloni, an artist who specialized in publicity posters. Boccioni's skill in creating compelling compositions in cartoons and posters stayed with him throughout his career. . . . Wanting to discover a city with a more established artistic avant-garde, Boccioni went to Paris in 1906; he found the city and its modern artists exhilarating. The following year, he moved to Venice (with stops in Russia, Warsaw, Vienna, and Padua), where he learned printmaking. His prints of this period depict friends, neighbors, and his mother. They also hint at his burgeoning interest in the industrial city, which became a more constant subject after his move to Milan in August 1907."
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Man Laying Paving Stones (study for The Street Pavers) 1914 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Composition study for The Street Pavers 1914 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni The Street Pavers 1914 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"Boccioni was a member of the Futurists, Italian artists who announced their existence in 1909 with a manifesto published on the front page of the French paper, Le Figaro. The group called for the abandonment of the past in favor of celebrating modern life and aimed to celebrate the metropolis in "multicolored and polyphonic tidal waves of revolution." Such canvases as The Street Pavers offered Boccioni the opportunity to revolutionize this scene of backbreaking work and to celebrate the powerful form of the modern laborer. Through his inventive use of pulsating color and rhythmic brushwork, the artist activated the surface of the canvas, making the faceless figures of workers almost indistinguishable from the urban context."
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Man Lying in a Field 1907 etching and drypoint Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Landscape with Industrial Plants 1909 drypoint Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Head of the Artist's Mother 1915 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni The Artist's Mother at a Table 1910 etching Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni The Artist's Mother 1915 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Development of a Bottle in Space 1913, cast in 1950 bronze Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"In March 1912 Boccioni wrote, "These days I am obsessed by sculpture! I believe I have glimpsed a complete renovation of that mummified art." A month later he published the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture and by June 1913 he had produced eleven sculptures, including Development of a Bottle in Space. Rather than delineating the contours of his subject, a bottle, Boccioni integrated the object's internal and external spatial planes, which appear to unfold and spiral into surrounding space."
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Unique Forms of Continuity in Space 1913, cast in 1950 bronze Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"The Futurists' celebration of the fast pace and mechanical power of the modern world is emphasized here in the sculpture's dynamism and energy. The figure's marching silhouette appears deformed by wind and speed, while its sleek metal contours allude to machinery. World War I broke out the year after Boccioni created this work. Believing that modern technological warfare would shatter Italy's obsession with the classical past, the Futurists welcomed the conflict. . . .
Boccioni was killed in action in 1916, at the age of thirty-four."
 |
| Umberto Boccioni The Athlete 1907 drypoint Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Umberto Boccioni Study of a Man's Forearm ca. 1908 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
– quoted texts from curator's notes at the Metropolitan Museum