Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916)

Italian painter and writer

Umberto Boccioni was born in Reggio di Calabria in Italy on 19 October 1882. At first Boccioni was a journalist and a writer. He moved to Rome in 1898. In Rome Boccioni studied painting and befriended Cino Severini and Giacomo Balla.

Futurism

From 1902 to 1904 Umberto Boccioni stayed in Paris and Berlin. He exhibited with Severini at the Mostra dei Rifintari. After a short stay in Paris he moved to St. Petersburg. In 1908, Umberto Boccioni met Carlo Carra and Emilio Marinetti in Milan. A year later he became an adherent of futurism.

Manifesto of Futurist

Together with Russolo, Carra, Balla, and Severini he signed the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painters in February 1910.

Street noises invade the house

The next year Umberto Boccioni traveled to Paris with Severini. He encountered cubism and painted his famous painting "Street noises invade the house".
After 1912 Umberto Boccioni searched for new associations between the object and space through futurist sculpture.
In 1912 the Technical Manifesto of futurist painters was published. Umberto Boccioni took part in the first international exhibition of futurist art in the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris.

Painting system

In 1914 Umberto Boccioni produced works that were based on the painting system developed by Cézanne and published his book "Pittura, scultura futurista, diamismo plastico".