Surely each of us has heard such a thing as “futurism”. Immediately there arises a certain abstract image of something fantastic, new, irrational. In order not to speculate, let's go directly to the consideration of this artistic style.
What is "futurism"?
In general, futurism is the common name for the literary and artistic style in the early 20th century, which arose initially in Italy and then in Russia. Futurists erected a kind of prototype of the future, with the primary basis of which was the destruction of cultural stereotypes. We can say that they were the likeness of revolutionaries in art, since the goal was the universal renewal of ideology and the ethical view of all predecessors in creative activity. This radical program challenged the entire artistic heritage, while not completely satisfied with the requirements for the absolute autonomy of art. They not only advanced a new model of world order, they recreated a new prototype of technology and urbanism.
Futurism in the painting of the 20th century
We can say that futurism in painting is a slight neglect of academicism, contributing to the manifestation of non-static and unique. The initial leaders in painting were such artists as Hugo Boccioni, Carlo Carra, Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla. The execution method is very similar to cubism and expressionism, but the visualization of the social and political movement has become distinctive. Futurist artists sought to recreate a picture that could transfer the viewer to the other side of the measurement, transfer it to the center of the image so that the spatiality becomes tangible, and the movement is sharper. Most often, geometric shapes were displayed on the canvases , which were very multifaceted. A certain illusion of a kaleidoscope was created, the color scheme of which was unusually universal.
The extraordinary color spectrum in the works of futuristic artists
Futurism in painting is not only a composition of figures. A distinctive characteristic is the color spectrum, the diversity of which allows you to create a characteristic style of the artist. Someone used bright colors, neglecting the mixing of colors, someone preferred relatively uniform tones. Thus, the artists displayed abstract art, the aim of which was to create dynamic compositions by visualizing such physical phenomena as energy, speed and even sound. The peculiarity of these compositions in the absence of specific content, the artist primarily sought to evoke free associations in the viewer, entailing different thoughts and emotions.
Futurism in Russian painting
As a trend in the visual arts, futurism existed until the early 1920s. Russian artists during this period turned out to be very consonant with their own searches, as they often resided in Europe. Creative figures found a personal hail in the manifestos of futurists of Italian origin, but at the same time differed in their ideology. Russian futurist artists were independent of Western artists, for example, not the superiority of technology was praised, but the loneliness of people among machines. From that moment, Russian artists began to resort to the experience of traditional art and began to actively work on creating images of active modern life in all its simplicity. We can say with confidence that for artists, futurism in painting is a means of self-expression, self-affirmation.
Representatives of futurism in painting
In Russia, the first representatives of Futurism who supported this trend were the Burliuk brothers.
They manage to portray incredibly vivid images. It turns out that the brothers not only created more and more works, but also were the founders of new groups among artists who popularized a new trend. After the circle of heirs became rapidly growing. We know such popular artists futurists as N. Burliuki, M. Larionov, N. Goncharova, M. Matyushin, N. Kulbin, A. Exter, M.F. Larionov, N.S. Goncharova, K. Malevich. In the works of these representatives, we can observe the multidimensionality of perspectives, a combination of which each viewer sees in his own way.
Futurism in painting. Paintings
Many artists simply ‒ simply borrowed the idea from the Cubists, as a result of which a considerable number of works by such authors as Nathan Altman (Anna Akhmatova, 1914), Robert Falk (Crimean Courtyard, 1915), and Kazimir Malevich (Harvesting the Rye) appeared, 1912). One of the atypical cubo-futuristic creations was vivid portraits of Vladimir and David Burliukov in the book of Tango with Cows by Vasily Kamensky (1914).
At this time, literature harmoniously adjoined to the visual arts. Futuristic poets resorted to the visualization of artists, as a result of which general works appeared.
An example of one of Malevich’s works is Aviator (1914)
Let's look at one of the works. The characterization of this picture is essentially similar: the geometrization of the depicted picture is similar for artists ‒ cubists. But among futurists, that is, cubo-futurists, geometrization plays the least role, and it is not always inherent. In the painting of Malevich we see a geometrical figure of a man chained in some metal armor. In the upper part of the picture we see the image of a fork, there is also a saw, a playing card and a sign. This whole image seems to be floating, floating. Each work carries a symbol, and this creation is no exception. We can say that the objects depicted symbolize the characteristic of aviation of its first years. How would the very figure of a balloonist soar. Space itself as if consists only of multi-colored planes and volumes in the form of a cylinder.
After the war period, each “surviving” artist ‒ futurist moved in his own direction. It can be said that as an artistic movement, futurism began to gradually lose its relevance, and in general it exhausted its formal implementation and ideas. But futurism in painting is a whole era in the history of art. It was through creativity that the leaders sought to change the world, to translate the worldview of people from a different angle through self-expression and the depth of symbols. The incidents of social issues simply ‒ simply erected a philosophy, which had an impact not only on painting and literature, but also on cinema, video ‒ art, and, of course, theatrical art.