Unique Types of Continuity in Space

In the twentieth century, industrialization set its foot in Italy inflicting an unusual interest amongst the people. Elements of the new age were characterized by way of embracing of speed and technology into their inventions. In this case, Umberto Boccioni born in Reggio, Calabria collectively with a group of writers and artists joined hands and based the Futurist movement. He was a painter and sculptor with excitement about the new innovations especially electricity and cars. He sought to instill artwork in the aspects of speed, power, and dynamism of the machine age to assert the manifesto of his fellow Futurist painters (Concerto et al. 208). In the proclamation, the splendor of speed is regarded as the new beauty of the world which is depicted in Umberto Boccioni’s sculpture. In the year 1913, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space sculpture was first created out of plaster, but later several others were made of bronze.The Unique Forms of Continuity in Space sculpture depicts an expression of movement and fluidity. Some of the sculpture’s features include two blocks attached to the ground serving as a support, and an armless body with the face abstracted into a cross with a helmet thus creating a reference for the war-hungry Futurists. Boccioni believed in the essence of his idea of transferring motion through synthesizing the body and the movement making one dynamic three-dimensional form (Kern 74). With the aerodynamic and fluid form, the sculpture gives a picture of a human-like figure in movement marching through space in a superhuman fashion. As portrayed by the piece, the lines of its body seem to be carved by the forces of wind and speed following the continuous motion. The carving captures the surroundings and the different stages of its movement through space and time to convey a story of anticipation for the future at the same time rebuking the traditions of the past. Primarily, the figure symbolizes the urge to the development and the continued forward march of time.The sculpture was motivated by the sight of a football player moving to catch a perfectly weighted pass. It portrays the personification of Boccioni’s serious, intense, and philosophically reflective art with stunning aspects of originality. In this scenario, the human-like figure does not resemble more of the realistic works but is quite indicative of the ancient classical Greek piece Winged Victory of Samothrace, and its lack of limbs pays homage to Auguste Rodin’s Walking Man. The Futurism piece demonstrates a realism influence in an extraordinarily proportionate and balanced manner (Concerto et al. 210). Boccioni purpose of creation of the artwork was to question what every other person knew of art hence offering a new light to the future concerning the sculpture. Some of the figure’s aspect leads us to ask of its human elements such as sexuality, its masculinity without muscles, and heaviness without weight. Lastly, the Unique Forms of Continuity in Space sculpture describes the Futurism art inspired by modern machines at the time. Boccioni used post-impressionism, symbolism, and divisionism which aimed at destroying the past by shining light on the beauty of contemporary life characterized by change, technology, and speed (Kern 74). As a result, the bronze sculpture educed sensations to the eye as well as to other senses and can sbe visualized from all angles. Therefore, the piece of art gives an entirely different image from each edge as it has no breaks due to it being curved rather than being molded or constructed.Work CitedConcerto, Carmen, et al. "Neural circuits underlying motor facilitation during observation of implied motion." Somatosensory & motor research 32.4 (2015): 207-210.Kern, Stephen. "CHANGING CONCEPTS AND EXPERIENCES OF TIME AND SPACE." The Fin-de-Siècle World (2014): 74.