Gino Severini - A Modern Synthesizer
Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 12:09PM 
Gino Severini - Italian, Festival in Montmartre, 1913, Oil on canvas - 35 x 45 3/4 in. (88.9 x 116.2 cm) - Bequest of Richard S. Zeisler, 2007.281, Art Institute of Chicago (click photo for larger image)Gino Severini was an Italian Cubist/Futurist Painter, 1883-1966, who synthesized the styles of Cubism and Futurism. Futurism refers to a modern art movement originating among Italian artists in 1909. The movement lasted until the end of World War I--but only caught real hold in Italy. The Futurists hoped to wrench Italy from what they saw as her languid, retrospective dream of an antique and Renaissance past into the shrill, dynamic realities of the industrial present. To accomplish this aim, they needed to develop a style as aggressive and contemporary as their new urban environment. Thus, futurism was a celebration of the machine age, glorifying war and favoring the growth of fascism. Futurist painting and sculpture were especially concerned with expressing movement and the dynamics of natural and man-made forms. Some of these ideas, including the use of modern materials and techniques, were taken up later by Marcel Duchamp (French, 1887-1968), as well as by the Cubists, and the Constructivists.
Reader Comments (1)
Wow! I love this. So much more than Deco.