Futurism and 20th Century Essay Example

An Itch You Can’t Scratch Futurism is a movement in the 20th century that valued technology’s beauty. In their works of art the Futurists tried to capture the experience of a modern world transformed by steam engines, electricity, automobiles, and airplanes. Futurist art was an appreciation of life and sought to obliterate the contemplative concept of art. Instead of standing separate from the experience of the modern world, Futurist artists threw themselves into the battle against a tame past and a liberating future. During the first decade of the 20th century, a group of young Italian painters came together under the influence of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet and writer. They dabbled in every medium of art including painting, sculpture, theatre and much more. Marinetti launched this movement in his Futurist Manifesto, which was published February 5, 1909. After it was published, it quickly spread to France, Germany, Russia and the Americas. This movement was the first organized, radical art movement of this century. Their manifestos were meant to shock and provoke the audience. Marinetti’s ideas came from his loath for tame virtues and tastes. His ideas were radical. He believed that it was time to create a new form of art for the people, based on the beauty of speed and the power and force of machinery. It was clear that Marinetti was trying to make Futurism break away from the past and create something completely new and compelling. The Futurists loved speed, noise, machines, pollution, and cities; they embraced the exciting new world that was upon them rather than enjoying the modern world’s comforts while disapproving the forces that made them possible. Futurism was a celebration of the machine age, glorifying war and favoring the growth of fascism. Futurist painting and sculpture were concerned with expressing movement and the dynamics of natural and man-made forms. Futurism in theatre, however, was very short lived. The