Giacomo Balla, Shape Noise Motorcyclist, 1913, Tempera on Paper
Posted by: Price Latimer Agah

I figured that a good place to start with an art blog related to motorcycles is the past. The history of art has been intrinsically linked to technology since the dawn of time, but one movement in particular really stands out when it comes to artists’ dedication to speed, noise, machines, youth, violence and industrialness in general: Futurism...
On February 20, 1909, the energetic bilingual poet and editor, F. T. Marinetti announced the movement of Futurism in a belligerent manifesto published on the front page of Paris newspaper, Le Figaro. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality and innovation in culture and society. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the motorcycle, and the beauty of their speed, power and movement. He exalted violence, war and conflict, and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.


Luigi Russolo, Dynamism of an Automobile, 1912-13, Oil on canvas

Marinetti's impassioned doctrine immediately attracted the support of young painters based in Milan - Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini - who wanted to extend Marinetti's ideas to the visual arts. They disavowed the cult of the past and all imitation, praised originality, "however daring, however violent", bore proudly "the smear of madness", dismissed art critics as useless, rebelled against harmony and good taste, swept away all the themes and subjects of all previous art, and glorified technology and industry. The Futurists practiced in every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles, literature, music, architecture and even gastronomy.

Giacomo Balla's Shape Noise Motorcyclist and Speed of a Motorcycle exemplify the Futurists' insistence that the perceived world is in constant motion. These paintings illustrate light, speed and movement, which Balla sought to break down to their simplest forms while moving closer to total abstraction.


Giacomo Balla, Speed of a Motorcycle, 1913, Oil on Canvas

I remember the first time I encountered the Futurists; I was 15 years old and stumbled upon Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. It was unlike anything I had ever seen… the most unbelievable portrayal of speed and fluidity in a static object. I was blown away. Particularly by the fact that this was made in 1913. I thought then, “This guy was way ahead of his time.” I still feel that way any time I see or read anything about the Futurists. Too bad almost all of them had to fall victim to Fascism (in the hope of modernizing the society and economy of Italy) or to the violence of war (both Boccioni and the young Futurist architect, Antonio Sant'Elia, were killed in 1916 and Russolo was badly wounded).


Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913

For further reading, check out: Futurism by Giovanni Lista.


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