Umberto Boccioni Dynamism of a Soccer Player 1913

  • MoMA, Floor 5, 503 The Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Galleries

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.

Gallery label from 2012.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
6' 4 1/8" x 6' 7 1/8" (193.2 x 201 cm)
Credit
The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection
Object number
580.1967
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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Provenance Research Project

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[1913] by 1920 - [1944], Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944), Milan and Rome, probably acquired from the artist.
[1944] - 1954, Donna Benedetta Marinetti, Rome, probably inherited from her husband Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.
1954 - 1967, Sidney and Harriet Janis, New York, acquired from Donna Benedetta Marinetti.
1967, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired as gift from Sidney and Harriet Janis.

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