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Futurism and Ultraism: Identity and Hybridity in the Spanish Avant-garde

  • Leticia Pérez Alonso
Published/Copyright: May 22, 2013
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International Yearbook of Futurism Studies
From the journal International Yearbook of Futurism Studies Volume 3 Issue 1

Abstract

This essay argues for an interpretation of Ultraism as a case of hybridity that incorporated disparate avant-garde tendencies - Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism and Expressionism - in order to overcome the preceding modernista tradition. Although this vanguard movement never acquired a privileged position within European experimentalism, it possessed a thriving history in Latin America, where it took roots in the main capitals - Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Caracas, Santiago - and adopted new forms thanks to the efforts of Jorge Luis Borges and Guillermo de Torre. Particularly influenced by Futurist typography, the ultraístas utilized the potentialities of manifestos, articles and poems to bring about direct and immediate effects. This essay examines a series of poems by Guillermo de Torre, Xavier Boveda, Rafael Lasso de la Vega, Jorge Luis Borges and Volt in order to reflect on avant-garde cross-fertilizations and the impact of pictorial images on poetic language. Along these lines, the Spanish episode of Jorge Luis Borges and Norah Borges is a model case of artistic cross-disciplinarity. In an ekphrastic gesture, Norah Borges translated her brother’s prism aesthetics into plastic forms and, reciprocally, Jorge Luis Borges wrote poems based on his sister’s figurative art. Refusing to be confined to an isolated stance, Ultraism partook of migratory movements and exchanges, furthering extremely fertile alignments that conditioned its hybrid identity.

Keywords: : Cross-disciplinarity; cross-fertilizations between historical avantgardes; reception studies; Dada in Spain; Expressionism in Spain; visual poetry; word-image relationships; literary soirees (serate and veladas)
Published Online: 2013-05-22
Published in Print: 2013-05

© 2013 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.

Articles in the same Issue

  2. Contents
  3. Editorial
  4. Section 1: Reviews and Archive Reports
  5. Valentine de Saint-Point: Performance, War, Politics and Eroticism
  6. Apulia Celebrates International Futurism
  7. The Futurism Archive of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut
  8. Section 2: Country Surveys
  9. Futurism in Spain: Research Trends and Recent Contributions
  10. Section 3: Futurism Studies: Iberian Futurisms
  11. Pre-History
  12. Futurist Social Critique in Gabriel Alomar i Villalonga (1873–1941)
  13. Marinetti’s Periodical Poesia (1905–09) and Spanish-language Literature
  14. Castile
  15. Futurist Texts in the Madrilenian Review Prometeo, Directed by Ramón Gómez de la Serna
  16. “Polemics, jokes, compliments and insults”: The Reception of Futurism in the Spanish Press (1909–1918)
  17. Futurism and Ultraism: Identity and Hybridity in the Spanish Avant-garde
  18. Nuevo Romanticismo and Futurism: Spanish Responses to Machine Culture
  19. Catalonia
  20. Rafael Barradas, Catalan Futurism and Marinetti’s Visit to Barcelona (1928)
  21. Catalan Futurism(s) and Technology: Poetry, Painting, Architecture and Film
  22. Basque Country
  23. Marinetti in Bilbao: Futurist Influences in the Basque Country
  24. Galicia
  25. Reactions to Futurism in Galicia, 1916–1936
  26. Portugal
  27. Futurism in Portugal
  28. Almada Negreiros, a Portuguese Futurist
  29. Ultra-Futurism, Occultism and Queer Politics: Concerning an (almost unpublished) Letter of Raul Leal to F. T. Marinetti
  30. Two Futurists Fallen into Oblivion: José Pacheco and Santa Rita Pintor
  31. Section 4: Bibliography
  32. A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2010–2012
  33. Section 5: Back Matter
  34. List of Illustrations
  35. Notes on Contributors
  36. Name Index
  37. Subject Index
  38. Geographical Index
https://doi.org/10.1515/futur.2013.3.1.154
Keywords for this article
Cross-disciplinarity; cross-fertilizations between historical avantgardes; reception studies; Dada in Spain; Expressionism in Spain; visual poetry; word-image relationships; literary soirees (serate and veladas)

Articles in the same Issue

  2. Contents
  3. Editorial
  4. Section 1: Reviews and Archive Reports
  5. Valentine de Saint-Point: Performance, War, Politics and Eroticism
  6. Apulia Celebrates International Futurism
  7. The Futurism Archive of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut
  8. Section 2: Country Surveys
  9. Futurism in Spain: Research Trends and Recent Contributions
  10. Section 3: Futurism Studies: Iberian Futurisms
  11. Pre-History
  12. Futurist Social Critique in Gabriel Alomar i Villalonga (1873–1941)
  13. Marinetti’s Periodical Poesia (1905–09) and Spanish-language Literature
  14. Castile
  15. Futurist Texts in the Madrilenian Review Prometeo, Directed by Ramón Gómez de la Serna
  16. “Polemics, jokes, compliments and insults”: The Reception of Futurism in the Spanish Press (1909–1918)
  17. Futurism and Ultraism: Identity and Hybridity in the Spanish Avant-garde
  18. Nuevo Romanticismo and Futurism: Spanish Responses to Machine Culture
  19. Catalonia
  20. Rafael Barradas, Catalan Futurism and Marinetti’s Visit to Barcelona (1928)
  21. Catalan Futurism(s) and Technology: Poetry, Painting, Architecture and Film
  22. Basque Country
  23. Marinetti in Bilbao: Futurist Influences in the Basque Country
  24. Galicia
  25. Reactions to Futurism in Galicia, 1916–1936
  26. Portugal
  27. Futurism in Portugal
  28. Almada Negreiros, a Portuguese Futurist
  29. Ultra-Futurism, Occultism and Queer Politics: Concerning an (almost unpublished) Letter of Raul Leal to F. T. Marinetti
  30. Two Futurists Fallen into Oblivion: José Pacheco and Santa Rita Pintor
  31. Section 4: Bibliography
  32. A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2010–2012
  33. Section 5: Back Matter
  34. List of Illustrations
  35. Notes on Contributors
  36. Name Index
  37. Subject Index
  38. Geographical Index
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