Lecture 5 in 'Modernism in Art: An Inroduction'. This weeks focused on Futurism, beginning with a reading of the 1909 Manifesto and discussing some of the key works associated with the group. Additionally this presentation includes a brief introduction to changes taking place in design.
Kenya Coconut Production Presentation by Dr. Lalith Perera
Modernism in Art: An Introduction: 'Standing in the sumit...' Futurisms' becoming
1. “ Standing on the World’s Summit”: Futurism’s becoming...
2. “ Standing on the World’s Summit”: Futurism’s becoming... Cancelled by decree of the Futurists!
3. “ Standing on the World’s Summit”: Futurism’s becoming... Cancelled by decree of the Futurists! Serata futurista Poetry Readings: The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism
4. Front page of Le Figaro (1909) F. T. Marinetti (1876-1944)
7. It is in Italy that we are issuing this manifesto of ruinous and incendiary violence, by which we are today founding futurism, because we want to deliver Italy from its gangrene of professors, archaeologists, tourist guides and antiquaries
11. “ Is not the machine today the most exuberant symbol of the mystery of human creation? Is it not the new mythical deity which weaves the legends and histories of the contemporary drama? The machine in its practical and material function comes to have today in human concepts and thoughts the significance of an ideal and inspiration.” Prampolini, E. (1922) The Aesthetics of the Machine and Mechanical Introspection in Art Giacomo Balla (1909) Street Lamp
12. 1852 - Elevator (USA) 1852 - First Concrete House 1861 – Telegraph (New York to San Francisco) 1860-4 – First Underground Railway (London) 1866 - (successful transatlantic cable) 1864 - Steel Furnace (France) 1866 – First steel bridge 1868 Scholes’ typewriter (first commercially successful typewriter) 1867 -Reinforced concrete 1876 – Bell patents Telephone (USA) 1878 – Commercial telephone exchange (USA) 1882 - Electric street lights (New York) 1882 – Trolleybus (Berlin) 1885 – Daimler patents petrol engine Development of internal combustion engines from 1820s onwards 1887-9 Eiffel Tower 1889 – Benz and Daimler’s petrol-propelled motor car (Germany) 1888 – Kodak Camera 1907-8 - Colour photography 1872 - Dry plate photography (basis for modern photography) 1894 – Escalator (USA) 1896 – Radioactivity discovered 1897 – Wireless transmission 1897 – Subatomic particles discovered 1895 – X-rays discovered 1895 – Public showing of Cine Film 1897 – Fully automatic telephone exchange. 1900 – Rigid frame airships 1903 – Wright Brothers’ biplane 1908 – Model T Ford 1910 – Neon lighting 1912 – Stainless Steel 1913 – Ford introduces Assembly Line 1901 – Transatlantic radio transmission 1919 – First non-stop flight over Atlantic 1911 – Motorised washing machine 1901 – Vacuum Cleaner patented
32. Interlude: Do you think that futurism was the most successful of the modernist movements we have studied so far? What criteria are you using to develop your answer? Of the movements we have studied so far, which do you think you would be most drawn to? How does modernism effect your relationship to art? How does this relate to the visual changes occurring within the work? “ Standing on the World’s Summit”: Futurism’s becoming... Cancelled by decree of the Futurists! Serata futurista Poetry Readings: The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism
35. Designing the world Giacomo Balla (1920, designs date back to 1913) Furturist Men’s Suit Centemporary reproduction stool on design by Fortunato Despero
38. Rural to Urban The Growth of Cities New Working and Living Conditions The Transformation of the Landscape Social Alienation Factories Joseph Wright of Derby, Richard Arkwright’s cotton mill [detail] (1771) A view of Sheffield [detail] (1858)
39. Hand-crafted to Machine Made New Technologies: Steam pumps, Gas Lighting, Stream Locomotives and Ships, Electricity, Internal Combustion Engine New Materials: Refined Iron, Sheet Glass, Steel Mass Production Skilled Craft Worker to Factory Labourer Arkwright’s Spinning Frame (1769) Illustration of carding, first appearing in Edward Baines History of Cotton Manufacture (1835)
40. The Great Exhibition 1851 Joseph Paxton, Crystal Palace (1851) “ The history of the world, I venture to say, records no event comparable in its promotion of human industry with that of the Great Exhibition… A great people invited all civilized nations to a festival, to bring into comparison the works of human skill.” Henry Cole (1851), one of the organisers of the Great Exhibition. From Gidds-Smith, C. H. (1981) The Great Exhibition of 1851 , London, Her Majesty’s Stationary Office. P.7
44. Arts and Crafts C.R. Ashbee, made by T. Jeliffe, W. Stevens, J.Pyment, W.White and L. Bailey (1898-99) C.R. Ashbee, decanter. Made by James Powell & Sons. (1904-5)
45. Arts and Crafts Philip Webb, Red House , entrance hall (1859-60) William Morris was a very influential figure and one of the leaders of the movement. He had strong socialist beliefs and wanted design to benefit everyone. William Morris, Pomegranate Wallpaper (1866)
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48. Art Nouveau Louis Majorelle (1900) Antoni Gaudi, Sagrada Familia (1883-1926) Art Nouveau was a very complex and diverse movement or series of movements between 1890-1914. “ Art Nouveau was the first self-conscious, internationally based attempt to transform visual culture through a commitment to the idea of the modern” (Greehalgh, see below) Turning away from traditions and conventions they drew upon nature, history and symbolism. “ It was an age of engines and of ghosts”. Greenhalgh, P and Wood, G. (2002) London, V & A Publications. P. 73.
49. Art Nouveau Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Willow Chair (1904) Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art (1897-1909) Like the Arts and Crafts Movement, artists and writers involved with Art Nouveau rejected any hierarchies between art, design and craft. They believed that art could improve life.
50. Art Nouveau Frans Hoosemans (1900) Rupert Carabin (1896) Sexuality, fantasy and changing roles… ‘Femme Nouvelle’
53. Designing a New World Left, Gerrit Reitveld, Armchair (1918), Right, Marcel Breuer, Armchair (1924)
54. Designing a New World Gerrit Reitveld, Schroder House (1924) Walter Gropius, Colour Plans for the exterior of Bauhaus Masters’ Houses (1926) [Detail]
I’m going to start today’s presentation with a series of mysterious questions, a kind of Da Vinci Code , to get you thinking about how studying Modernism might impact upon your general relationship to art. I will answer these questions at the end.