Stati d’animo: Futurism, Theosophy and Portraiture
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Jennifer S. Griffiths
Abstract
The portrait may seem like a static medium unsuited to the demand for dynamism, aversion to tradition or repudiation of mimesis that characterized Italian Futurism, yet its painters experimented with this undoubtedly passéist genre when seeking to convey something more than mere physical appearance. Their stated wish was instead to capture the sitter’s stato d’animo, or state of mind. How were their attempts inspired by contemporary ideas? The belief that energies of the mind might be visible to a select number of spiritually intuitive people as ‘auras’ or ‘etheric doubles’ of colour and light was one that circulated widely in Europe through the publication of writings such as Thought- Forms (1905) by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater. Yet, while the influence of Theosophy is well established in relation to pioneers of abstract art such as Piet Mondrian or Wassily Kandinsky, much less has been written about its impact on the Italian avant-garde. In this essay, I consider how portraits may be an unexplored avenue to thinking about Theosophical influences within Futurism. Analysing paintings by Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, Benedetta Cappa Marinetti and Růžena Zátková, I suggest that the artists revolutionized and modernized an otherwise obsolete genre through the concept of the thought-form and the notion of clairvoyance.
Abstract
The portrait may seem like a static medium unsuited to the demand for dynamism, aversion to tradition or repudiation of mimesis that characterized Italian Futurism, yet its painters experimented with this undoubtedly passéist genre when seeking to convey something more than mere physical appearance. Their stated wish was instead to capture the sitter’s stato d’animo, or state of mind. How were their attempts inspired by contemporary ideas? The belief that energies of the mind might be visible to a select number of spiritually intuitive people as ‘auras’ or ‘etheric doubles’ of colour and light was one that circulated widely in Europe through the publication of writings such as Thought- Forms (1905) by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater. Yet, while the influence of Theosophy is well established in relation to pioneers of abstract art such as Piet Mondrian or Wassily Kandinsky, much less has been written about its impact on the Italian avant-garde. In this essay, I consider how portraits may be an unexplored avenue to thinking about Theosophical influences within Futurism. Analysing paintings by Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, Benedetta Cappa Marinetti and Růžena Zátková, I suggest that the artists revolutionized and modernized an otherwise obsolete genre through the concept of the thought-form and the notion of clairvoyance.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Editorial IX
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Section 1: Futurism Studies
- Futurism and Theosophy: Giacomo Balla and His Circle 1
- Making the Tables Dance: Seances, Ghosts and Futurism 37
- Stati d’animo: Futurism, Theosophy and Portraiture 57
- Desecrating the Divine, Sacralizing Humanity: Futurist Religion vs. Romantic Mysticism 83
- Futurist Dissonance, Theosophical Transcendence and American Musical Ultra-Modernism, 1909–1930 107
- Esotericism and the Occult in F. T. Marinetti: Aspects of the Sacred in Futurist Gnosis 131
- Religious Traces within Polish Futurism: Entangled Ways of the Sacred 161
- Spanish Ultraism’s Sacred Woman of the Future 201
- Tullio d’Albisola’s L’anguria lirica (1934): Female Transubstantiation and a New Religion of Poetic Materiality 225
- Renewing the Sacred and the Sublime: From Early Futurist Manifestos to Marinetti’s Aeropoem of Jesus 259
- From Futurism to Spiritual Classicism: Gino Severini and the Neo-Catholic Avant-garde 281
- Leandra Angelucci Cominazzini: Revisiting the Futurist Debate on Speed, the Sacred and the Spiritual 299
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Section 2: Reviews
- Futurist Manifestos Revisited 327
- Santa Rita Pintor: Work and Life of a Portuguese Futurist Painter 333
- A New Study on Futurism in Sicily 341
- Notes on Two Novels in a Post-Neo-Futurist Key 345
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Section 3: Bibliography
- A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2018–2021 357
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Section 4: Back Matter
- List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 375
- Notes on Contributors 379
- Name Index 387
- Subject Index 411
- Geographical Index 437
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Editorial IX
-
Section 1: Futurism Studies
- Futurism and Theosophy: Giacomo Balla and His Circle 1
- Making the Tables Dance: Seances, Ghosts and Futurism 37
- Stati d’animo: Futurism, Theosophy and Portraiture 57
- Desecrating the Divine, Sacralizing Humanity: Futurist Religion vs. Romantic Mysticism 83
- Futurist Dissonance, Theosophical Transcendence and American Musical Ultra-Modernism, 1909–1930 107
- Esotericism and the Occult in F. T. Marinetti: Aspects of the Sacred in Futurist Gnosis 131
- Religious Traces within Polish Futurism: Entangled Ways of the Sacred 161
- Spanish Ultraism’s Sacred Woman of the Future 201
- Tullio d’Albisola’s L’anguria lirica (1934): Female Transubstantiation and a New Religion of Poetic Materiality 225
- Renewing the Sacred and the Sublime: From Early Futurist Manifestos to Marinetti’s Aeropoem of Jesus 259
- From Futurism to Spiritual Classicism: Gino Severini and the Neo-Catholic Avant-garde 281
- Leandra Angelucci Cominazzini: Revisiting the Futurist Debate on Speed, the Sacred and the Spiritual 299
-
Section 2: Reviews
- Futurist Manifestos Revisited 327
- Santa Rita Pintor: Work and Life of a Portuguese Futurist Painter 333
- A New Study on Futurism in Sicily 341
- Notes on Two Novels in a Post-Neo-Futurist Key 345
-
Section 3: Bibliography
- A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2018–2021 357
-
Section 4: Back Matter
- List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 375
- Notes on Contributors 379
- Name Index 387
- Subject Index 411
- Geographical Index 437
