Background
Umberto Boccioni was born on October 19, 1882, in Reggio Calabria, Italy. He was a son of Cecilia Forlani and Raffaele Boccioni, a minor government employee, whose job included frequent reassignments throughout Italy.
Via Brera, 28, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
In 1906-1907, Umberto studied at Brera Academy in Milan.
Fondamenta Zattere Allo Spirito Santo, 423, 30123 Venezia VE, Italy
Umberto studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Venice.
Umberto Boccioni was born on October 19, 1882, in Reggio Calabria, Italy. He was a son of Cecilia Forlani and Raffaele Boccioni, a minor government employee, whose job included frequent reassignments throughout Italy.
Boccioni was trained from 1898 to 1902 in the studio of the painter Giacomo Balla, where he learned to paint in the manner of the pointillists. From 1906 to 1907, Umberto studied art at Brera Academy, taking life-drawing classes. After a little while, he studied the styles of Impressionism and Post-Imressionism in Paris and briefly took drawing classes at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Venice.
During the period, when Umberto attended Famiglia Artistica Milanese, namely in 1909-1910, he associated with Carlo Carrà and Luigi Russolo, and met the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who had published the first Futurist manifesto in February of 1909. In 1910, Boccioni participated in the formulation of the two Futurist manifestos - Manifesto dei pittori futuristi and Manifesto tecnico della pittura futurista. The same year, Boccioni's first solo exhibition was held at the Galleria Ca' Pesaro in Venice.
Boccioni's first major Futurist painting, "Riot in the Gallery", remained close to pointillism and showed an affiliation with Futurism mainly in its violent subject matter and dynamic composition. "The City Rises", however, is an exemplary Futurist painting in its representation of dynamism, motion and speed. The swirling human figures in its crowd scenes are repetitively fragmented according to the Futurist style, but the rhythmic muscular energy they generate is unrelated to the Futurist cult of the machine.
Boccioni was probably influenced by Cubism in 1911-1912 and about that time he also became interested in sculpture. In 1912, he published the "Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture", in which he anticipated developments in modern sculpture. Boccioni advocated the use in sculpture of nontraditional materials, such as glass, wood, cement, cloth and electric lights, and he called for the combination of a variety of materials in one piece of sculpture. He also envisioned a new type of sculpture, that would mold and enclose the space within itself. In practice, however, Boccioni's sculpture was much more traditional, than his theories. Only "Development of a Bottle in Space" successfully creates a sculptural environment. His most famous work, "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space", is one of the masterpieces of early modern sculpture.
From 1912 to 1914, Umberto contributed articles to the Futurist publication Lacerba.
It's worth noting, that Boccioni took part in all the important futurist exhibitions in Europe and America, beginning with the Paris exhibition of 1912. In 1913, the artist showed sculpture and paintings in a solo show at the Galerie de la Boétie in Paris, and his sculpture was included in the inaugural exhibition of the Galleria Futurista Permanente in Rome.
(Work by Umberto Boccioni.)
1914Dimensional Shapes of a Horse
Glass and Syphon
Twilight
Adriana Bisi Fabbri
Interior with Two Female Figures
Farmers at Work (Risaiole)
Dynamism of the Human Body
Study for Sculpture "Empty and Full Abstracts of a Head"
The Antigraceful
The Drinker
Campagna
Dynamism of a Human Body
Mother and Child
Materia
Agitate Crowd Surrounding a High Equestrian Monument
María Sacchi Reading
Simultaneous Nude
The Dream (Paolo and Francesca)
States of Mind: The Farewells
The City Rises
Kneeling Allegorical Figure
Car and Hunting Fox
Ferruccio Busoni
Three Women
Dynamism of the Human Body: Boxer
The Charge of the Lancers
States of Mind: The Farewells
Virgilio Brocchi
States of Mind I: The Farewells
Passing Train
Dynamism of a Cyclist
Carlo Carrá
Cloister of S. Onofrio
Nude
Young Man on a Riverbank
Moorland
The Morning
Trees
Under the Pergola at Naples
Abstract Dimensions
Elasticity
States of Mind II: Those Who Go
Landscape (mountains)
April Evening
Figure
The Reaper
Portrait of a Young Woman
The City Rises
Simultaneous Visions
Horizontal Volumes
States of Mind: Those Who Go
The Laugh
Countryside with Trees
The Street Pavers
The Mother
Silvia
Factories at Porta Romana
Pianist and Listener
Self-Portrait
Seated Woman
Dynamic Decomposition
The Grand Canal in Venice
The City Rises
Horse+Rider+Houses
The Strengths of a Street
Dynamism of a Man's Head
Dynamism of a Human Body
Study of a Feminine Face
Mourning
Factory Foltzer
Dynamism of a Woman's Head
Homage to Mother
Plastic Synthesis - Seated Person
Nocturne
Riot in the Galleria
Modern Idol
Carlo Carrá
Woman in a Café: Compenetrations of Lights and Planes
Plastic Dynamism: Horse+House
A Futurist Evening in Milan
The Mother
Signora Massimino
Study from Pontormo
The Street Enters the House
Dynamism of a Soccer Player
States Of Mind (Study): Those Who Stay
Self-Portrait
The City Rises
Boats in Sunlight
The City Rises
The Signora Virginia
Self-Portrait
When Boccioni came into the Futurist movement, he brought with him a mindset, comprised of Socialist and Marxist ideas about society and how it should change. As all the futurists, he was fascinated with the industrial revolution. Also, he was an anarchist and rebel and he supported war as means of social revolution.
Quotations:
"There is neither painting, nor sculpture, nor music, nor poetry. The only truth is creation."
"We must now learn to draw inspiration from the tangible miracles, that surround us."
"A time will come, when the eye of man will perceive colors as feelings within itself."
"While the impressionists make a table to give one particular moment and subordinate the life of the table to its resemblance to this moment, we synthesize every moment (time, place, form, color-tone) and thus build the table."
"The time has passed for our sensations in painting to be whispered. We wish them in the future to sing and re-echo upon our canvasses in deafening and triumphant flourishes."
"All art critics are useless or harmful."
During the period from 1909 to 1910, Umberto attended the Famiglia Artistica, a Milanese artists' society, that sponsored annual exhibitions.