Extra Credit Museum Visit

Summary

Gino Severini was an Italian painter that lived from 1883, to 1966. He was born in Italy and began painting in 1900. He studied under Giacomo Balla, a well-known Italian painter, who also was a very well-known futurist. Severini studied painting using the art-style of his teacher, using pointillism. In 1906, he had moved to Paris, where he was introduced to other famous painters of the time like George’s Braque and Pablo Picaso. This meeting was important, considering these were the individuals that introduced cubism to Severini, who would become best known for his cubism works. Severini would continue to paint in Pointillism until 1910, when he joined the Futurist painters. The goal of the Futurists was to capture the energy and pace of modern society to revitalize Italian art and, by extension, Italian culture. While Severini also had an interest in futurism styled art, his creations lacked the political undertones of Futurism. Severini frequently depicted the human body as the source of dynamic motion in his paintings, compared to other Futurists who primarily showed moving vehicles or machinery. It was really during World War 1 that Severini really embraced the Futurist's style.

We can see that here in his painting “Visual Synthesis of the Idea: "War". In the work we can see many forms of cubism, with very sharp lines, making very concrete shapes. What makes this piece interesting is the depiction of machinery, showing Severini truly embracing Futurism. To me his use of Cubism conveys modernistic ideas for its visual effect of looking like the original image was pulled apart, but then put back together. French flags, canons, and smokestacks are all present in the painting, representing power. Going back to futurism, they had felt that war would be an effective way to get rid of the past, something that was a former goal of the futurist movement, like a rebranding. Following other artists at the time, Severini included phrases in his painting, like order of general mobilization" and "effort maximum (in French)", which were common phrases used in war at the time.

I came across this piece at the MoMA, or the Museum of Modern Art. There were so many other great pieces or works along with this piece; what drew me to choose to talk about this one, amongst all the other ones there was this sense of patriotism. Even though all the other artworks were visually appealing, this one to me seemed the most “different”. It looks like all the black, grey, and white parts were done first, then the blue, red, orange, and brown parts were done after. This contrasting effect had me looking at for a longer time than the other art pieces. I also really liked the profound edges that some of the shapes take. The only real question I have, is that I wonder how French people feel about this piece of work, considering it was not made by someone who was born in France. Would they have felt some type of way knowing that he was Italian?

Sources:

“Gino Severini.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 8 Apr. 2024, www.britannica.com/biography/Gino-Severini.

Scholes, Robert. “Biographies.” Modernist Journals | Severini, Gino (1883-1966), modjourn.org/biography/severini-gino-1883-1966/. Accessed 9 May 2024.