Artwork of the week: Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
16.10.2012
On October 19th it will be the 130th anniversary of the birth of Umberto Boccioni, one of the most prominent representatives of Italian Futurism. Born in Reggio, Calabria, Boccioni completed his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome under the guidance of Giacomo Balla, a renowned divisionist painter; in 1906, he moved to Paris where he devoted himself to the study of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist style. In 1907, Boccioni moved to Milan where he came into contact with Futurism and its founder, the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Quickly become one of the main theorists of the movement, Boccioni decided to be a sculpture after visiting numerous studios in Paris in 1912.
Started in 1912 and first exhibited in 1913, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space is unquestionably Boccioni’s most iconic sculpture and arguably one of the most effective representations of the movement of the human body; featuring an armless human-like figure apparently in motion, the sculpture has a fluid and strongly aerodynamic form. Today depicted on Italian 20 cent Euro coin, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space pays homage to both the Winged Victory of Samothrace and Auguste Rodin’s Walking Man.
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space is on display at MoMa, New York.
Artists, sculpture, Things I like, Artwork of the Week.
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