«4. The magnificence of the world has been enriched with a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car, adorned with thick tubes that resemble snakes with an explosive breath... a roaring car, which seems to run under fire is more beautiful than The Winged Victory of Samothrace."
Fundação e Manifesto do Futurismo, Le Figaro, 20 de fevereiro de 1909.
Futurism was one of the most fleeting movements of the 20th century. Born in Italy, by the hand of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, and expanded internationally after a theatrical gesture, being published in the front page of Le Figaro, the Futurist Manifest, in 1909. Le Figaro do Manifesto Futurista.
Futurism, as many of the pioneer movements in the 1900’s, was seen as an insult to tradition. The futurists sought to fight the "prejudice of the Sublime Themes" and the greatness of the subjects, which were so dear to the 18th century tradition, they also fought the "art-mimesis", replacing it with "art-life" that represented contemporaneousness.
Futurism touched almost all art territories. Starting in literature, it quickly spread to the fine arts, architecture and the performing arts. In 1910, a succession of specialized manifests made their principles and intentions clear. From the art point of view, two principles allow us to recognize Futurism in its pictorial and sculptural manifestations: The "chromatic divisionism", previously introduced by the Impressionists, that helped style the first futuristic paintings, but the most evident distinctive feature — which would extend to all artistic domains — was shown in the Technical Manifest of Futuristic Paintings, in 1910: "Everything moves, everything runs, everything turns quickly. A figure never presents itself static, but it appears and disappears quickly. The persistence of images in the eye, causes moving objects to multiply and distort, and they succeed, one after the other, in a way that resembles vibrations in the space they go throug."
Futurism, which placed “Idea” above “Style”, often resorted to explanatory titles for the pieces. The war — "the hygiene of the world" — significantly reduced Futurism’s impact and, after 1918, the movement lost its glow and eventually subsided amidst Fascism.
The great mentor of Futurism in Portugal was Guilherme Santa-Rita, the painter who contacted the Italian futurists in Paris. He came back from Marinetti with the task of finding an editor for the manifests. Portuguese Futurism was even more fleeting and had some literary expression — the Orpheu magazine, promoted by Fernando Pessoa and António Ferro, and the unique edition of Futurist Portugal, seized by the police just outside the typography — and little impact in the visual art, which was practically boiled down to Santa-Rita’s reproduction of seven pieces, shown in the magazines, and a painting — Futurist Head —that managed to escape the fire that the painter's family used to erase his work, per his request. The most serious event of Portuguese Futurism was the 1st Futurism Conference by Almada Negreiros held in Teatro República, at 5 pm on April 14th, 1917. With Santa-Rita’s elaborate orchestration, the Futurist Manifest to the generations of the twentieth century, written by Almada himself, was read from a large box. This manifest would become the great starter of the controversy that followed in the press.
Perspectiva futurista de um quarto de acordar, 1912
em Portugal Futurista nº 1, 1917
Orfeu nos Infernos
em Portugal Futurista nº 1, 1917
Compenetração estática interior de uma cabeça = complementarismo congénito absoluto (sensibilidade lithographica), Paris, 1913
em Orpheu, n.º 2, Abril-Maio-Junho 1915
Syntese geometral de uma cabeça X infinito plastico de ambiente X transcendentalismo phisico (sensibilidade radiographica), Paris, 1913
em Orpheu, n.º 2, Abril-Maio-Junho 1915
Decomposição dynamica de uma mesa + estylo do movimento (interseccionismo plastico), Paris, 1912
em Orpheu, n.º 2, Abril-Maio-Junho 1915
Estojo scientifico de uma cabeça + aparelho ocular + sobreposição dynamica visual + reflexos de ambiente X luz. (sensibilidade mechanica)
em Orpheu, n.º 2, Abril-Maio-Junho 1915