Gino+Severini


 * Gino Severini** was an Italian painter, sculptor, and graphic artist and a major benefactor of the Cubo-Futurist movement. His painting style fluctuated over the span of his lifetime, and he had a hand in Neo-Impressionism, Divisionism, and Cubism. He spent much of his life perfecting the science of painting, an aspect that is clear in the crisp geometry of his lines. His works also reflected futurist ideals and the importance of bodies in motion as related to technological development.

=**Biography**=

Gino Severini was born in 1883 in Cortona, Italy. True to the nature of his distaste for conventional education, Severini was expelled from school when he and a group of friends attempted to steal test answers from his school. He moved to Rome in 1899 with his mother and attended art classes at a school called "Gli incurabilit," where he focused mainly on light and perspective. In 1901 Severini met Umberto Boccioni, with whom "he was introduced to the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, the Russian novelists and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and to the general principles of Marxism."

In 1906, he moved to Montmarte, Paris, where the artistic scene "was dominated by Fauvism," with "artists were searching for the __form__, linear rhythm, and technical means to express that harmony resulting from a reconciliation between Realism and Romanticism." Here he was influenced by Impressionistic painting, and came to know most of the Parisian avant-garde, such as Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Amedeo Modigliani, and Pablo Picasso. For many years, Severini paid particular attention to complimentary colors and the scientific theories of the late 19th century, following in the footsteps of George Seurat, as he wanted to break away from the Italian naturalist approach  in favor of “colour and design for their own sake." Even so, he continued to refine his work with a focus on "laws of complementary colours and the scientific theories of the late 19th century, along the lines laid down by Seurat." While in Paris, he met Jeanne Paul Fort, the daughter of the French poet Paul Fort, at the literary cafe La Closerie des Lilas, a cafe that held a lot of cultural and personal significance for Severini. The two were married in 1913.

In 1910 Severini began receiving letters from Boccioni, who invited him to sign the Futurist Manifesto written by F.T. Marinetti. Though initially skeptical about Futurism's "overt display" of "over-advertising and journalistic demagoguery," which he felt "came to plague artists," his strong friendship towards Boccioni and his want of adventure prompted him to sign the Manifesto. On April 11, 1910, received another letter from Boccioni to sign the Manifesto dei pittori futuristi//,// or the //Manifesto of the Futurist Painters,// a visual-artist's version of the original Futurist Manifesto. In February of 1912, Severini helped in organizing the first Futurist exhibition in Paris, at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, and thus continued to participate in Futurist exhibitions throughout Europe and the United States.

Around the start of World War I, Severini's art became more “solid and volumetric,” thus portrayed in paintings such as //Cannon in Action //. After 1916, Severini had another drastic shift in style, inspired by his want of "lyrical realism along the lines of Romanticism." He began concentrating on combining the nuances of Futurism with the geometric construction of Cubism and formed his own style that took on a similar form to "Synthetic Cubism." In 1919, his work shifted again, though he was still attracted to the importance of mathematics in relation to artistic creativity, including his mastery of the "Golden Mean." In the 1920s, he rediscovered religious faith inspired by friendship with Jacques Maritain and painted many commissions for murals, frescoes, and mosaics. He returned to Paris in 1946, where he returned to his Neo-Cubism style and died twenty years later in Paris, on the 26th of February, 1966.

=Involvement in Futurism=

Severini was one of the leading members of the Italian Futurist movement and a co-founder of the Cubo-Futurist style. He signed the original Futurist Manifesto and later, along with Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, and Luigi Russolo co-signed the //Manifesto of the Futurist Painters// and the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting and thus became a co-founder of the Cubo-Futurist style. The manifesto spoke in protest of old religious criteria and "facile commercialism" that, to the Futurist, was utterly contemptible. They insisted instead the importance of drawing inspiration from the rapidly progressive atmosphere of the technological world to welcome the new in place of the old. Severini helped to put on the first Futurist at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in February 1912. He also helped in Futurist shows in Europe and the United States.

Though Severini shared an appreciation for progression and technology that other Futurists held, he did not share the same pressing need for aggression, and would not have signed the manifesto if it hadn't been for his feelings of kinship towards Boccioni, since he found the idea of manifestos to be "contrary to [his] nature." Severini's biography details his opinions of the other Futurists, which were often negative, including the way he found Marinetti to be able to manipulate manifestos "with the journalistic technique of exaggeration to drive them [ideas] beyond their natural limits." Severini was opposed to the aggressive nature of Italian Futurists and their competition with Cubism, feeling that the two groups would have benefited more from a mutual understanding.

=Critical Overview=

Severini's artistic works evolved greatly over time, starting first with a focus on light and perspective. Throughout his life he held an appreciation for mathematics in relation to artistic creativity, in which geometrical "rules had meanings... beyond their constructive value" that was "strictly innate to artistic creativity." He utilized divisionistic color techniques inspired by Giacomo Balla, otherwise known as "Neo-impressionism." He was also inspired by Marinetti's poetic technique words-in-freedom to incorporate fragmented words and phrases into his paintings. This is apparent in such works as "Cannon in Action" of 1915. His works from 1910 to 1916 were more focused on "subjects in movement," an aspect he abandoned for a while to study "more ample forms and toward a concept of construction and composition close to that of the Cubists." Starting in 1924, he began taking on religious commissions of murals, frescoes, and mosaics that were "still Cubist in spirit."

Famous Works
One of Severini's well-known pieces is entitled //Blue Dancer// from 1912. One can see that there is a certain amount of Indeterminacy to his work, as each of us have interpreted this painting differently: When Ms. Arnett views this painting, she sees a woman on the right in a large and flowing blue dress, sweeping toward the floor crying, while a gentleman dancer behind her reaches out to comfort her. When Mr. Wartman views this painting, he sees movement captured in a single image. The woman and her dress are ill-defined, suggesting the subject is in motion, almost as if two or three different images have been placed over each other.

"In the paintings he completed in 1911, such as //Black Cat// (Ottawa, N.G.), //The Boulevard// (London, Mr. and Mrs. Eric Estorick priv. col.) and the //Pan-Pan Dance in Monico// (1909–11; destr. World War II; second version, 1960; Paris, Pompidou), Severini accentuated the rhythm created by the fragmentation of light, obtaining a spatial scansion increasingly based on geometric forms. Using colour to accentuate contrasts, he constructed a dynamic representation in which simultaneity is brought into relief by the musicality of the pictorial composition as a whole. While still adhering to the ideas of the Futurists, Severini developed a very personal technique."
 * //The Boulevard//**

**//Red Cross Train Passing a Village//** //Red Cross Train Passing a Village// (1915) is one of many paintings that depicts Severini's feelings about World War I. He used "symbols of war" to define the use of technology, as he observed passing trains carrying war machines and weaponry through France. The painting portrays rapid, new technology that shatters the old into pieces. It uses fragmentation to draw an indefinite line between the village while the steam coming off the train depicts movement. The village is not passive, however, as it melds with the fragments the train creates. The painting shows Severini's fondness for crisp geometric lines that manifest from his Cubist and Divisionistic roots.

**//Futurism and Dance//** In this piece, Severini puts emphasis on the human body as something more than just a vessel, but as a machine. Severini was often inspired by girls who worked for establishments such as the Moulin de la Galette and their colorful dresses caught beneath spotlights.



//**"Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin"**// "Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin" depicts a girl in a blue, pink and white dress of the nightclub in Paris-- Bal Tabarin. This is a political piece that comments on the Turco-Italian War of 1911. It is portraying nationalism by using the depiction of motion and collage elements.

=Critical Reception=

Not all of Severini's style changes were well-received. He was unable to sell his early paintings for much since the start of Futurism "...was a period of hostility towards painters of the so-called avant-garde." A dramatic change of style occurred in Severini’s paintings in 1916. From the decomposition of volumes he progressed towards a formal purity inspired by the tradition of the Italian Renaissance. In 1919, his rigorous research of scientific studies produced such arts as //Still Life with Guitar,// however it "was not well received by the critics." He often struggled to sell his paintings even when well-received by his peers[cite] but he also had a few periods where his art sold well. He published a book called //Du Cubisme au classicisme// "attention to the mathematical and compositional rules" that was heavily "criticized by the Cubists."

=**External Links**=

Back to the Futurism The War Art of Gino Servini Mid-Centuria Art of Gino Severini Other Famous Futurist Artists

= **References** =

Images are used in accordance with fair use practices. If you hold copyright to an image, and do not agree that its use accords with fair use practices, please contact the wiki's creator and organizer.