Destroying the past

Futurism was originally an Italian manifestation in art and literature, a cult of speed and movement, triumphantly urban and dynamic, a sort of souped-up Cubism, which lasted from 1909 until its deathblow in the first world war and final dissolution in the 1920s. It was pretty much invented by the poet Filippo Tomasso Marinetti (1876–1944), who liked to call himself ‘the caffeine of Europe’, and was actor-manager and travelling salesman for the group. The first international agent provocateur of modern art, expert promoter and publicist, he was for ever on the road organising confrontational meetings masquerading as art and guaranteed to grab the headlines. He can be blamed for much of the ‘performance art’ which bedevils us today, though he was far better value and more entertaining.

At the beginning of 1914, Marinetti took the train from Milan to Moscow, where — rather to his surprise, after all the talk of pelting him with rotten eggs and sour milk — he was warmly welcomed. Some of the more avant-garde Russian artists were already predisposed towards the doctrine of Futurism and had begun to develop their own version of it. However, the more independent, like Mikhail Larionov, opposed Marinetti and resented his tireless cultural colonialism. Although some were influenced by the Italian example, others merely adopted what was relevant and ignored the rest. For the urban template of Italian Futurism did not take into account the important rural aspect of Russian art, with its emphasis on folk art and search for Russian identity. Rather as the English adapted Futurism to their own ends to produce Vorticism, so the Russians developed their own versions, which led to Rayism (or Rayonism) and ultimately to Suprematism and Constructivism. This exhibition is a survey of that Italian– Russian interaction.