Muscular Dynamism

May 1911

“The City Rises” on show in Milan

In May 1911 “The City Rises” went on show in Milan: a huge canvas, 2 by 3 metres, on which Boccioni had worked for nearly a year, attempting, as he wrote to a friend, “a great synthesis of labor, light and movement”. It attracted numerous reviews, mostly admiring.

1912

Decides to take up sculpture

After visiting the Paris studios of Georges Braque, Alexander Archipenko, Constantin Brâncuși, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and, probably, Medardo Rosso, Boccioni decided to take up sculpture.

1912

Futurist exhibition at the Sackville Gallery

In 1912 the Futurists, Boccioni among them, exhibited their work at the Sackville Gallery in London.

1912

Futurist exhibition at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune

In 1912 Boccioni exhibited some paintings together with other Italian Futurists at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.

11 April 1912

Publishes the “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture”

The “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture” was published on 11 April 1912; for Boccioni it was the intellectual and physical launch into sculpture.

1913

Sculpture exhibition at the Galerie La Boétie

In 1913 he returned to show his sculptures at the Galerie La Boétie; everything on view grew out of what Boccioni had seen in Paris.