The Futurists’ celebration of the fast pace and mechanical power of the modern world is emphasized here in the sculpture’s dynamism and energy. The figure’s marching silhouette appears deformed by wind and speed, while its sleek metal contours allude to machinery. World War I broke out the year after Boccioni created this work. Believing that modern technological warfare would shatter Italy’s obsession with the classical past, the Futurists welcomed the conflict. Tragically, Boccioni was killed in action in 1916, at the age of thirty-four.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
Artist:Umberto Boccioni (Italian, Reggio 1882–1916 Sorte)
Date:1913, cast 1950
Medium:Bronze
Dimensions:47 3/4 × 35 × 15 3/4 in., 200 lb. (121.3 × 88.9 × 40 cm, 90.7 kg)
Classification:Sculpture
Credit Line:Bequest of Lydia Winston Malbin, 1989
Object Number:1990.38.3
Benedetta Cappa Marinetti, Rome (1950–56; sold in November 1956 to Winston); Lydia and Harry Lewis Winston, Birmingham, Mich. (1956–his d. 1966); Lydia Winston Malbin, Detroit and New York (1966–d. 1989; her bequest to MMA)
Palacio del Retiro, Madrid. "Exposición de Arte Italiano Contemporáneo," May–June 1955, no. 2 (as "Formas únicas de continuidad en el espacio," 1913, lent by Sra. Marinetti, Rome).
Salas Municipales de arte, San Sebastián. "Exposición de Arte Italiano Contemporáneo," July 1955, no. 2.
Musée d’Art et d’Histoire et Musée Naval de Toulon. "L'art italien contemporain," September 1955, no. 2 (as "Forme unique de la continuité dans l'espace," 1913, lent by Mme Marinetti).
Marseille. Musée Cantini. "L'art italien contemporain," October 1955, no. 2.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Collecting Modern Art: Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston," September 27–November 3, 1957, no. 18.
Richmond. Virginia Museum of Art. "Collecting Modern Art: Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston," December 13, 1957–January 5, 1958, no. 18.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Collecting Modern Art: Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston," January 23–March 13, 1958, no. 18.
Milwaukee Art Institute. "Collecting Modern Art: Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston," April 11–May 12, 1958, no. 18.
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Collecting Modern Art: Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston," June 15–August 3, 1958, no. 18.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Selections from the Collections of the Friends of Modern Art," May 15–June 22, 1969, no. 27 (lent by Mrs. Barnett Malbin [The Lydia K. and Harry Lewis Winston Art Collection] Birmingham).
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Futurism: A Modern Focus. The Lydia and Harry Lewis Winston Collection. Dr. and Mrs. Barnett Malbin," November 16, 1973–February 3, 1974, no. 30.
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Masters of Modern Sculpture," November 19, 1974–February 27, 1975, no catalogue (checklist no. 30, lent by The Lydia and Harry Lewis Winston Collection [Dr. and Mrs. Barnett Malbin, New York]).
Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art. "Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art," June 1–July 30, 1978, no. 52 (lent by The Lydia and Harry Lewis Winston Collection [Dr. and Mrs. Barnett Malbin], New York).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Futurism and the International Avant-Garde," October 26, 1980–January 4, 1981, no. 48 (lent by The Lydia and Harry Lewis Winston Collection [Dr. and Mrs. Barnett Malbin, New York]).
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Rodin Rediscovered," June 28, 1981–May 2, 1982, no. 356 (lent by Lydia and Harry L. Winston Collection [Dr. and Mrs. Barnett Malbin], New York).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Boccioni: A Retrospective," September 15, 1988–January 8, 1989, no. 88 (lent by Lydia Winston Malbin, New York).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Boccioni: The Lydia Winston Malbin Bequest," June 15, 1990–January 15, 1991, no catalogue.
Jewish Museum, New York. "Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture, 1890–1918," November 14, 1999–April 23, 2000, unnumbered cat. (pl. 8).
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Boccioni's Materia: A Futurist Masterpiece and the Avant-garde in Milan and Paris," February 6–May 9, 2004, no. 40 (a different cast is illustrated).
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "Il Modo Italiano: Italian Design and Avant-garde in the 20th Century," May 4–August 27, 2006, no. 43.
Toronto. Royal Ontario Museum. "Il Modo Italiano: Italian Design and Avant-garde in the 20th Century," October 21, 2006–January 7, 2007, no. 43.
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe," February 21–September 1, 2014, no. 63 (as 1913 [cast 1949]).
Joshua C. Taylor. "Harry Lewis Winston, Birmingham, Michigan: Futurist and Other Twentieth-Century Art." Great Private Collections. Ed. Douglas Cooper. New York, 1963, p. 298, ill. pp. 302, 303 (installation photos, Winston home).
Maurizio Calvesi and Ester Coen. Boccioni: L'opera completa. Milan, 1983, pp. 466–70, no. 856.
Gerald Silk. "At Home with the Future: In New York, Lydia Winston Malbin's Futurist Art Rivals Italy's Best." House & Garden 158 (October 1986), p. 280, ill. pp. 206, 208, 210 (color, installation photos).
Ester Coen. Umberto Boccioni. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, pp. 216–18, no. 88, ill. (color).
Sylvia Hochfield. "Spotlight. Lydia Winston Malbin: A Futurist Eye." Art News 87 (April 1988), pp. 91–92, ill. (color, installation photo with Lydia Winston Malbin in her home).
Lisa M. Messinger in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1989–1990." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 48 (Fall 1990), p. 69.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, p. 405, ill. (color).
Claudia Salaris inItalian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe. Ed. Vivien Greene. Exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, 2014, p. 28.
Flavio Fergonzi inItalian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe. Ed. Vivien Greene. Exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, 2014, pp. 127, 129, 342, no. 63, ill. p. 126 (color).
Maria Elena Versari. "Recasting the Past: On the Posthumous Fortune of Futurist Sculpture." Sculpture Journal 23, no. 3 (2014), pp. 359–61, 367 n. 59, fig. 8.
Vanessa Place. "Dall'arte di far manifesti: The Art of Making Manifestos." X-tra Contemporary Art Quarterly 17 (Fall 2014), p. 51, ill. p. 56 (color).
Maurizio Calvesi in Maurizio Calvesi and Alberto Dambruoso. Umberto Boccioni: Catalogo Generale delle Opere. Turin, 2016, p. 165, ill. p. 168.
Alberto Dambruoso in Maurizio Calvesi and Alberto Dambruoso. Umberto Boccioni: Catalogo Generale delle Opere. Turin, 2016, pp. 451–52, no. 712, ill. p. 451 and front cover (color).
Rosalind McKever. "Benedetta Marinetti and the Postwar Market for Umberto Boccioni Sculptures." Getty Research Journal no. 9 (2017), pp. 114–18, fig. 3 (color), fig. 4 (installation photo, Winston living room, 1969).
Rashid Rana. "Umberto Boccioni's 'Unique Forms of Continuity in Space'." The Artist Project: What Artists See When They Look at Art. Ed. Chris Noey. New York, 2017, pp. 184–85, ill. (color).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2019, p. 405, ill. (color), dates it 1913, cast 1949.
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 27 (color).
Douglas Eklund, Marilyn F. Friedman, and Randall R. Griffey inMaking The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, p. 167.
In honor of the 100th anniversary of Italian Futurist Umberto Boccioni's death, Rosalind McKever, Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow, takes a closer look at how two of the artist's works made him famous over the last century.
Umberto Boccioni (Italian, Reggio 1882–1916 Sorte)
1912
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