THE COLLECTION
Umberto Boccioni (Italian, 1882–1916)
Dynamism of a Soccer Player Dinamismo di un foot-baller (Dynamism of a soccer player)
- Date:
- 1913
- Medium:
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions:
- 6' 4 1/8" x 6' 7 1/8" (193.2 x 201 cm)
- Credit Line:
- The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection
- MoMA Number:
- 580.1967
2012
In this work a soccer player dematerializes into a luminous and flickering atmosphere, save for his firmly sculpted calf, at center. Here Boccioni offered a demonstration of a principle he articulated in his 1910 text "Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting": "To paint a human figure you must not paint it; you must render the whole of its surrounding atmosphere . . . movement and light destroy the materiality of bodies." With stippled brushwork and kaleidoscopic color, the painting communicates the spirited energy of a youthful athlete.
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