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Futurism and the Avant-Garde

Futurism and The Avant-Garde

David Cottington, Futurism and The Avant-Garde  It is a commonplace of art history to observe that Italian futurism was among the first moveFuturism and The Avant-Gardements of the artistic avant-garde. But these terms, and the implications for understanding both futurist art and its significance for western modernism, are not often examined. What was ‘the avant-garde’, why did it emerge when it did, and what influence did it have on the sudden appearance of futurism on the European cultural stage? These are some of the questions that this talk addresses, with particular attention to the impact of cubism on the development of futurist painting and sculpture, and to the ways in which its innovations were adapted, and re-exported, by the Italian artists.Suggested Further Reading:Peter Burger, Theory of the Avant-Garde (U of Minnesota Press, 1984)Raymond Williams, 'The Politics of the Avant-Garde', in his book The Politics of Modernism (London: Verso, 1989)David Cottington, Cubism (London: Tate Publishing, 1998)Richard Humphreys, Futurism (London: Tate Publishing, 1998)Norman Stone, Europe Transformed: 1878-1919 (London: Fontana, 1984)