European University Institute Library

Inventing futurism, the art and politics of artificial optimism, Christine Poggi

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 349-360) and index

illustrationsplates

index present

non fiction

Inventing futurism

bibliography

213375901

Christine Poggi

the art and politics of artificial optimism

This book provides a reassessment of Futurism that reintegrates it into the history of twentieth-century avant-garde artistic movements. Countering the standard view of Futurism as naively bellicose, the author argues that Futurist artists and writers were far more ambivalent in their responses to the shocks of industrial modernity than Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's incendiary pronouncements would suggest. The author closely examines Futurist literature, art, and politics within the broader context of Italian social history, revealing a surprisingly powerful undercurrent of anxiety among the Futurists - toward the accelerated rhythms of urban life, the rising influence of the masses, changing gender roles, and the destructiveness of war. This book traces the movement from its explosive beginnings through its transformations under Fascism to offer new insights into familiar Futurist themes. --, Provided by publisher

Futurist velocities -- Folla/follia : futurism and the crowd -- Umberto Boccioni's The city rises : picturing the futurist metropolis -- Photogenic abstraction : Giacomo Balla's Iridescent interpenetrations -- Dreams of metallized flesh : futurism and the masculine body -- Futurist love, luxury, and lust -- Return of the repressed : vicissitudes of the futurist machine aesthetics under fascism -- Epilogue