“Unique Forms of Continuity in Space” by Italian artist Umberto Boccioni has got to be one of the best sculptures ever conceived and cast. The way that it seems to move and glide through space… Perfect!
I love Cubism. Point, line, plane, and form. A very basic description of Cubism would be: a subject is broken up into it’s most basic parts and then reassembled in order to appear as though it is being looked at from multiple angles. The subject is being portrayed from all sides at once in space.
Futurism (which Umberto Boccioni helped found) took that concept, but added motion and movement into the equation. It attempts to portray both time and space. I love it! And “Unique forms of Continuity in Space” is, to me at least, the perfect example of Futurism. When I made it to the MoMA, where it is part of the permanent collection, I didn’t even know that was one of the pieces I would see. Just turned a corner, and there it was. Beautiful.
Umberto Boccioni is also a very well known painter, and I’ve included some additional images for your enjoyment. One of my favorites has always been “The City Rises”. Powerful!
