Unique Forms of Continuity in Space is a bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 Futurist

Futurism (art)

Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...

 sculpture by Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni was an Italian painter and sculptor. Like other Futurists, his work centered on the portrayal of movement , speed, and technology. He was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy.-Biography:...

. It is seen as an expression of movement and fluidity. Boccioni rejected traditional sculpture and depictions to create this piece and it is seen as a masterpiece

Masterpiece

Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....

 of Futurism. The sculpture is depicted on the obverse of the Italian-issue 20 cent euro coin.

History

The Futurist movement was striving to portray speed and forceful dynamism

Dynamism

Dynamism is a concept that has several meanings.*Dynamism , a cosmological explanation of the material world in the vein of process philosophy.*Dynamism , a Japanese retailer specializing in exports....

 in their art. Boccioni, though trained as a painter, began sculpting in 1912. He exclaimed that "these days I am obsessed by sculpture! I believe I have glimpsed a complete renovation of that mummified art." The next year, Boccioni completed the sculpture. His goal for the work was to depict a "synthetic continuity" of motion instead of an "analytical discontinuity" that he saw artists like František Kupka

František Kupka

František Kupka was a Czech painter and graphic artist. He was a pioneer and co-founder of the early phases of the abstract art movement and Orphic cubism...

 and Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...

 portraying.

Composition

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space depicts a human-like figure seemingly flying or gliding through air. A clinging drapery whips back around his legs, giving the sculpture an aerodynamic

Aerodynamics

Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Aerodynamics is a subfield of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, with much theory shared between them. Aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, with...

 and fluid form. Instead of a traditional pedestal

Pedestal

Pedestal is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase....

, the figure is only bound to the ground by two blocks at his feet. The figure is also armless and without a discernibly real face.

Though Boccioni apparently reviled traditional sculpture, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space does resemble more realist

Realism (arts)

Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...

 works. The flowing, windswept drapery looks back to the classical Winged Victory of Samothrace

Winged Victory of Samothrace

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike . Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.-Description:The Nike of Samothrace,...

, which Filippo Marinetti

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti was an Italian poet and editor, the founder of the Futurist movement, and a fascist ideologue.-Childhood and adolescence:...

, founder of Futurism, declared was inferior in beauty to a roaring car. The lack of arms also pays homage to Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin

François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...

's Walking man

The Walking Man

The Walking Man is a famous sculpture by the world-renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The medium is bronze. It was created by Rodin during 1877 and 1878....

.

Original plaster and casts

Boccioni's work was in plaster, and was never cast into bronze in his lifetime; this is on display at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea

Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo

The Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo is a contemporary art museum located in the main campus of the University of São Paulo, in São Paulo, Brazil, and in Ibirapuera Park, in the same city.The museum was inaugurated in 1963, when the Brazilian industrialist and art collector...

, São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

. Two casts were made in 1931 (one is on display at the Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

), two were made in 1949 (one is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

), and in 1972 (one is on display at the Tate Modern

Tate Modern

Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...

), and another eight in 1972 made not from the plaster, but a 1949 cast.

Influence

In 2009 Italian composer Carlo Forlivesi

Carlo Forlivesi

Carlo Forlivesi is an Italian composer, performer and researcher.Forlivesi was born in Faenza, Emilia-Romagna. He studied at Bologna Conservatory, Milan Conservatory and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome...

 in collaboration with Stefano Fossati, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, created an international composition competition and workshop titled Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (Forme Uniche della Continuità nello Spazio), commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Italian Futurism

Futurism

Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.Futurism or futurist may refer to:* Afrofuturism, an African-American and African diaspora subculture* Cubo-Futurism* Ego-Futurism...

. With a name which brings to mind the famous sculpture by Italian Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni was an Italian painter and sculptor. Like other Futurists, his work centered on the portrayal of movement , speed, and technology. He was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy.-Biography:...

, the initiative, organised on an annual basis, celebrates the power of musical composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

mingled with the strength of the Italian language. The international composition competition and workshop Unique Forms of Continuity in Space aims to contribute to the creation of a large and eclectic body of art works, with rich implications in the relationship between music and poetry.