Renewing the Sacred and the Sublime: From Early Futurist Manifestos to Marinetti’s Aeropoem of Jesus
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Martina Della Casa
Abstract
The publication, in 1931, of the Manifesto of Futurist Sacred Art marked an important, and only apparently contradictory, step in the evolution of Futurism. Despite its violent anticlericalism, the movement had in fact, since the mid- 1910s, developed a form of (secular) sacred art and a Futurist form of spiritualism rooted in the movement’s religion of velocity. Since its beginnings, Futurism had engaged in a process of re-elaboration and appropriation of religious notions, such as that of ‘religiosity’ and the ‘sacred’, and of aesthetical concepts, such as that of the ‘sublime’. This process is central to our understanding, in terms of continuity and not of discrepancy, of the movement’s ambition, openly expressed in the 1930s, to renew (Christian) sacred art. By focussing on several Futurist manifestos, this essay aims to explore how the Italian avant-garde remodelled these concepts over time and applied them to their art in a way that was consistent with their aesthetical and cultural principles. The purpose of this analysis is also to examine how they feature in one of Marinetti’s last works, the Aeropoem of Jesus (1943/44).
Abstract
The publication, in 1931, of the Manifesto of Futurist Sacred Art marked an important, and only apparently contradictory, step in the evolution of Futurism. Despite its violent anticlericalism, the movement had in fact, since the mid- 1910s, developed a form of (secular) sacred art and a Futurist form of spiritualism rooted in the movement’s religion of velocity. Since its beginnings, Futurism had engaged in a process of re-elaboration and appropriation of religious notions, such as that of ‘religiosity’ and the ‘sacred’, and of aesthetical concepts, such as that of the ‘sublime’. This process is central to our understanding, in terms of continuity and not of discrepancy, of the movement’s ambition, openly expressed in the 1930s, to renew (Christian) sacred art. By focussing on several Futurist manifestos, this essay aims to explore how the Italian avant-garde remodelled these concepts over time and applied them to their art in a way that was consistent with their aesthetical and cultural principles. The purpose of this analysis is also to examine how they feature in one of Marinetti’s last works, the Aeropoem of Jesus (1943/44).
Chapters in this book
- 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
Chapters in this book
- 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
