Futurism and Degenerate Art

Question 1

Answer 1

Giacomo Balla, Street Light, 1909, o/c, Futurism

Question 2

Answer 2

Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913, bronze, Futurism

Question 3

Futurism

Answer 3

Futurism was a short-lived movement that originated in Italy in 1909 and declined after WWI. Its leader, Francisco Marionetti wrote the Futurist manifesto in which he celebrated the machine age, and asserted that rather than remaining mired in museums full of old things, art must reflect contemporary life, a central characteristic of which was motion and speed. Marionetti believed that Futurists that were engaged in a battle to overturn the old order, eradicate the past, and move forcefully into the future. Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913) exemplifies the Futurist emphasis on dynamism, movement and speed.

Question 4

How did the art of the Futurists describe a world full of new technologies in their subject matter and formal qualities?

Answer 4

In order for art to reflect the technological innovations of the machine age, Marionetti’s stipulated that Futurist painting must depict motion, speed and simultaneity. This interest is reflected in the blurring and repetition of feet in Giacomo Balla’s Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash. This painting also suggests the influence of photographer Edward Muybridge’s works that reveal the camera’s ability to show things the eye can’t see. Similarly, in Street Light (1909), Balla paints rays from the electric light as an explosive force, eclipsing the feeble glow of the moon. In Boccioni’s sculpture, Unique forms of Continuity in Space (1913), the artist incorporates a sense of motion into the human figure. Futurist painters were slow to develop a distinct style, but their interest in depicting a world in constant motion was informed by pointillism and, post-impressionism, and ultimately cubism. Energetic brushstrokes evoke a a sense of dynamism and speed, and the work, such as Boccioni’s The City Rises (1910-1911) is often abstracted and painterly, and employs multiple perspectives.

Question 5

How did Nazis define “degenerate art”?

Answer 5

x

Question 6

Name two artists considered degenerate and discuss why they were included

Answer 6

x

Question 7

How was the show organized? How were the walls decorated?

Answer 7

The works were hung without any apparent order, crammed together, sometimes upside down, crooked, badly lit, and crowned by graffiti that ridiculed the work.

Question 8

What was the intention of this show? How did the public respond?

Answer 8

x