Introduction

The Futurist movement embraces art and social movements of the early 20 century. It originates in Italy, and is then picked up in France, England, the United States, and Russia. It’s concept is based on the dynamics of modern life and technology. The futurist artists used elements such as machines, speed, and war to declare their notion of modernity. Although the futurist movement was short, it influenced every aspect of art and design.

Formal Breakdown of States of Mind: The Farewells

Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916) is one of the leading artists of the futurist movement. His painting, States of Mind: The Farewells, which was done in 1911, captures a sad and chaotic moment in a train station, where some solders are departing, and others are staying.

Composition:

Although the rendering appears to be flat with no space, the scale for foreground, middle ground, and background design elements (solders, train and landscape) make the linear perspective believable.  The swath that the soldiers form, makes an asymmetric “V” shape in the painting.  The train and steam in the middle divides the solders to two zones, the kinetic zone on the right, and the silent zone on the left. The composition helps to demonstrate a lot of movement and strong emotion.

Shape: It employs cubist, interlocking geometric shapes.

Patterns and  rhythm: The repetitive patterns embrace all the figures, machines, and environment with dynamic and rhythmic forms. It is like music.  Lines, shapes, patterns and forms create a lot of rhythm.

Line: Lines are sharp, intense, and energetic. They help to define some overlapped shapes.

Color: Color is muted. Solders are a portrayed in muted green.  Saturated reds  complement the greens, and other surrounding colors.

 Futurism Character Design:

Design Decision:

I created this set of worriers a few years ago for an XNA game and modified them recently to fit better to futurist character. In this set of characters, I emphasized many triangular geometric forms and asymmetrical design in addition to machine design elements that I found in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. I repainted the set based on Tullio Crai’s Bozzetto per costume di scena’s color scheme. The poses were set to mimic Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space sculpture. Both characters show an aggressive attitude.  Although the female character’s pose is a bit withholding, it is as powerful as that of the male character.

Conclusion:

Although Futurism movement was short, it was significant.  It supports war,  demolishes traditional value, and fighting for feminism. Art in this period reacted to the chaos.

 

 

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Bibliography

• Janson, H. W., Anthony F. Janson. History of art. 6th ed. Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2004. Print.
• http://www.mariabuszek.com/kcai/DadaSurrealism/DadaSurrReadings/FtrstWoman.pdf
• http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~crshalizi/T4PM/futurist-manifesto.html
• http://maraahmed.com/wp/2011/02/19/states-of-mind-ii-the-farewells-by-umberto-boccioni-1911/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ouQwGPw_S4