Modernism in Visual Art

For this project I chose The Street Pavers by Umberto Boccioni. This artwork is on display at the MET along with other great pieces. Umberto Boccioni was an Italian born October 1882. He trained under Giacomo Balla from 1898-1902. He later moved to Milan where along with Filippo released art containing futuristic movement. He released his first major painting named Riot in the Gallery in 1909. He enlisted in the army and died from a fall from a horse in 1916.The painting I chose was created in 1914 two years before Umberto passed away. It showcases as it says street pavers. He was trying to show the modern laborer through this work. You will have to try and spot them. This artwork really drew me in because of the bright colors. I was having trouble picking the artwork that I wanted to do the project about, but I knew as soon as I saw it that this was the one. The colors are one of the key components, I liked how he used strokes to imitate what pavement would be like on top of their clothes and on their skin. I another thing was how it’s hard to tell what is. Unlike realism art where you would want to get all the detail its feels like he wanted to get the bare minimum, he painted the outline of the workers with no facial features, he also included their clothing with the patterns on it. They all have their head down as well almost them just concentrating on their job and nothing else. He could portray how hard these people worked or maybe he was trying to show that these people were working too hard. What they are working on really doesn’t seem like pavement to me resembles like a field or something. This artwork is an eye catcher. The way the painter really blends everything together and make us work and decipher it I think is one of its strong points. The day that I went there was a lot of people and many would stare at it. From what I saw a majority of the pieces were made by French painter and it was a good thing that I found this one made by an Italian because it was different from what the other were making. I would as how long did it take for him to draw this.? What led him to draw them that way? 

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Umberto-Boccioni