Activity 1

One of the most notable artistic movements that emerged between the world wars was Futurism. Read The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism by F. T. Marinetti, the leader of the movement in Italy. Then read Manifesto of the Futurist Painters issued by several young Italian painters. What were the artistic goals of Futurism? What artistic values did the Futurists set themselves against? What role does irrationalism play in Futurist aesthetics? What role does technology play? Now take a look at some examples of Futurist painting and sculpture: Speeding Automobile by Giacomo Balla, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space and Antigraceful by Umberto Boccioni, and The Bear Dance by Gino Severini. How do these works exemplify the principles announced in the manifestos you read? Marinetti and some other Futurists became enthusiastic supporters of Mussolini and Fascism. What continuities can you see between Futurist principles and Fascist doctrine?

Activity 2

As European artists were confronting the crisis of culture precipitated by World War I, many American artists were trying to define a uniquely American aesthetic. Some of these did so by cultivating realism, while others drew upon the European avant-garde tradition, adapting its experimental techniques to their visions. One of the leaders of the latter group was Alfred Stieglitz, a photographer and gallery owner who championed American modernism. To learn more about Stieglitz, read this short biography. From the biography page, go to the pages concerning Stieglitz's galleries: the 291 Gallery, the Anderson Galleries and Intimate Gallery, and An American Place. What prompted Stieglitz to open each of these galleries? What did he hope to achieve through them? Did these galleries display the same styles of art, or did each emphasize a different aesthetic? Now consider some examples of the works of artists Stieglitz championed. Take a look at Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. II and Shell No. 1 by Georgia O'Keefe; Portrait and Still Life by Marsden Hartley; Battle of Lights and Brooklyn Bridge, Night by Joseph Stella; Turkish Bath with Self Portrait and My Egypt by Charles Demuth; Nature Symbolized and Thunderstorm by Arthur Dove; and Abstraction and Movement #2 by John Marin. How do these works resemble and differ from each other. How do they resemble and differ from the works by European modernists you have studied. What, if anything, strikes you as distinctly American about these versions of modernism?