Andrew Lambirth

Frenetic attack

Futurism<br /> Tate Modern, until 20 September

issue 20 June 2009

Futurism
Tate Modern, until 20 September

The centenary of Marinetti’s ‘First Manifesto of Futurism’ is a wonderful excuse, if excuse be needed, for a celebration and perhaps re-assessment of a movement that attacked the past in the name of all that was modern. Today, Futurists would be execrating any movement as old and as passé as themselves, but we may look more calmly at their frenetic attempts to capture in paint and sculpture the dynamism of modern life. The large show at the Tate aims to do two things: to gather together as many as possible of the works that were shown in the first Futurist exhibition in London, at the Sackville Gallery in 1912, and to demonstrate how Futurism related to (and influenced) the other radical art movements of the time. Thus this is not exclusively a Futurist show, but dwells also upon Cubism, Simultanism, Orphism, Rayonism and Vorticism.

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