7 The dispute over simultaneity
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Delphine Bière
Abstract
The dispute opposing the Futurists and Robert Delaunay focused on notions that were discussed among the avant-garde and gave those artists the opportunity to define their own conception of simultaneity. This dispute demonstrated the overlapping of trends in contemporary art, and the artists' endeavours to distinguish themselves from one another when critics tended to confuse and assimilate the Delaunay's creative process with that of the Italian Futurists. The point of the dispute was first of all to prove the precedence of the Futurists' pictorial innovations over Delaunay's. Secondly, the debates it provoked revealed some interpretational errors in the way some driving principles were received at the time, including Michel-Eugene Chevreul's law of simultaneous contrasts and complementary colours, but above all Henri Bergson's theories about duration and intuition. Exchanging views with Umberto Boccioni led Delaunay to clarify his ideas about simultaneous contrasts as opposed to the Italian painter's understanding of simultaneity.
Abstract
The dispute opposing the Futurists and Robert Delaunay focused on notions that were discussed among the avant-garde and gave those artists the opportunity to define their own conception of simultaneity. This dispute demonstrated the overlapping of trends in contemporary art, and the artists' endeavours to distinguish themselves from one another when critics tended to confuse and assimilate the Delaunay's creative process with that of the Italian Futurists. The point of the dispute was first of all to prove the precedence of the Futurists' pictorial innovations over Delaunay's. Secondly, the debates it provoked revealed some interpretational errors in the way some driving principles were received at the time, including Michel-Eugene Chevreul's law of simultaneous contrasts and complementary colours, but above all Henri Bergson's theories about duration and intuition. Exchanging views with Umberto Boccioni led Delaunay to clarify his ideas about simultaneous contrasts as opposed to the Italian painter's understanding of simultaneity.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- 1 Engaging the crowd 14
- 2 Heroes/heroines of Futurist culture 27
- 3 ‘Out of touch’ 38
- 4 La bomba-romanzo esplosivo, or Dada’s burning heart 56
- 5 Futurist canons and the development of avant-garde historiography (Futurism – Expressionism – Dada) 72
- 6 ‘An infinity of living forms, representative of the absolute’? 95
- 7 The dispute over simultaneity 113
- 8 Fernand Léger’s La noce 133
- 9 Nocturnal itineraries 145
- 10 ‘A hysterical hullo-bulloo about motor cars’ 159
- 11 Futurist Performance, 1910–1916 176
- 12 Le Roi Bombance 195
- 13 The cult of the ‘expressive’ in Italian Futurist poetry 208
- 14 Visual approaches to Futurist aeropoetry 226
- 15 The Untameables 243
- 16 The dark side of Futurism 255
- 17 Rethinking interdisciplinarity 272
- 18 A Very Beautiful Day After Tomorrow 284
- Index 299
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- 1 Engaging the crowd 14
- 2 Heroes/heroines of Futurist culture 27
- 3 ‘Out of touch’ 38
- 4 La bomba-romanzo esplosivo, or Dada’s burning heart 56
- 5 Futurist canons and the development of avant-garde historiography (Futurism – Expressionism – Dada) 72
- 6 ‘An infinity of living forms, representative of the absolute’? 95
- 7 The dispute over simultaneity 113
- 8 Fernand Léger’s La noce 133
- 9 Nocturnal itineraries 145
- 10 ‘A hysterical hullo-bulloo about motor cars’ 159
- 11 Futurist Performance, 1910–1916 176
- 12 Le Roi Bombance 195
- 13 The cult of the ‘expressive’ in Italian Futurist poetry 208
- 14 Visual approaches to Futurist aeropoetry 226
- 15 The Untameables 243
- 16 The dark side of Futurism 255
- 17 Rethinking interdisciplinarity 272
- 18 A Very Beautiful Day After Tomorrow 284
- Index 299
