Back to the Futurists: Italy's First Avant-Garde Turns 100

I don't know too much about futurism, though I remember it was one of my favorite art movements in high school art history, so I looked up the manifesto and read it. An awesome piece of adolescent ranting if ever I heard one (I mean this as a compliment). If Marinetti & Co. had gone out in the blaze of glory they were planning back in 1909 they would not have had time to become fascists. Their fate is similar to that of the baby boomers? "The oldest among us are not yet thirty years old: we have therefore at least ten years to accomplish our task. When we are forty let younger and stronger men than we throw us in the waste paper basket like useless manuscripts!" was perhaps the more elegant original that "don't trust anyone over thirty" was echoing. At least the futurists envisioned their own demise right at the dawn of their movement. Perhaps being steeped in that "second-hand market" of Italian history gave them a sense of perspective that they didn't fully appreciate.

-- thisislissa
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