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Italian Futurism and American Progress
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The Turn of the Century 1890-1920
The Death of Queen Victoria January 22, 1901 • Most of Europe is ruled by monarchies • The turn of the century is called the ‘Belle Epoch’ – the beautiful era 1880-1914 • People are very positive about the new century
“Futurism” in Modern Italy • Italy: a latecomer to “modernity” • Slow to industrialize; considered backwards, primitive, romantic • Late 19th century: not a strongly unified country; explosive development of large industry
“The Myth of The New Italian” • Early 20th century; explosion of nationalist movements in Italy • Italy’s national destiny • Embrace modernity • Transformations of modern life were preparing the way for a new civilization
Futurist Nationalism • Futurism is powerful attempt to forge new Italians, liberated from tradition and the weight of cultural heritage • War as initiation into modernity • “We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene…” (Founding Manifesto)
Futurist Values • Ecstatic embrace of Modernity: speed, technology, industry, machines • Mix of dehumanized materialism and mystical will (primitivism, instinct, spirit) • “We are not interested in offering dramas of humanized matter…The warmth of a piece of iron or wood is in our opinion more impassioned than the smile or tears of a woman.” -- “Technical Manifesto of F. Lit.”
Futurist Values • Celebration of change, progress, “the NEW” • War on the past, tradition, restriction, “the Sublime in Art with a Capital A” • Embrace of dynamism, movement, competition, struggle, violence • Futurist enemies? “Passeism” (nostalgia) “Amore”
Urban Life in America • By the turn of the 20th century, four out of ten Americans lived in cities. Culture followed the desires of the largest group – the emerging middle class
Expanding Public Education • Between 1865 and 1895, states passed laws requiring 12 to 16 weeks of annual education for students ages 8-14, but the curriculum was poor and the teachers were usually not qualified. However, the number of kindergartens expanded from 200 in 1880 to 3,000 in 1900
High School Enrollment • High schools expanded their curriculum to include science, civics and social studies. By 1900, 500,000 teenagers were enrolled in high schools.
Racial Discrimination • African Americans were usually excluded from secondary education. In 1890, less than 1% attended high school. By 1910, that figured had reached only 3%.
Catalogs and RFD • Montgomery Ward and Sears were two pioneers in catalog sales. By 1910, ten million Americans shopped by mail. In 1896 the Post Office introduced a rural free delivery (RFD) system that brought packages directly to every home.
Spectator Sports • Americans also became avid fans of spectator sports. Baseball and boxing became profitable businesses. Mark Twain called baseball, “the very symbol of the booming 19th century.” 1897 Baseball team picture Kansas State University
A Revolution In Printing • By 1890, the literacy rate in the U.S. was nearly 90%. American mills began to produce huge quantities of cheap paper from wood pulp. Electrical web-presses printed on both sides of paper at the same time. Faster production and lower costs made newspapers and magazines more affordable. Most papers sold for 1 cent.
Newspapers • Mass-production printing techniques led to the publication of millions of books, magazines, and newspapers. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were two leading publishers whose competition led to more and more sensational newspaper reporting. Pulitzer (above) & Hearst (right) initiated what was known as “Yellow Journalism”
Characteristics of “Yellow Journalism” included huge, sensational, exaggerated headlines.
Popular Fiction • “Dime” novels were popular and inexpensive. Most of these focused on adventure tales and heroes of the west. Some readers preferred a more realistic portrayal from authors Mark Twain, Jack London, and Willa Cather.
Explosion of Photography • Before 1880, photography was a professional activity. Subjects could not move and the film had to be developed immediately. Then George Eastman invented lighter weight equipment and more versatile film. In 1888, he introduced his Kodak camera. It cost $25 camera and came with a 100-picture roll of film.
Vertical Growth Skyscrapers emerged after elevators & steel skeletons to bear weight were invented. Examples include Daniel Burnham’s Flatiron Building in NYC and Louis Sullivan’s Wainwright Building in St. Louis. Flatiron Building - 1902
Electric Transit • Changes in transportation allowed cities to spread outward. By the turn of the century, intricate networks of electric streetcars – also called trolley cars – ran from outlying neighborhoods to downtown offices & stores.
El’s and Subways • A few large cities moved their streetcars far above street level, creating elevated or El trains. • Other cities built subways by moving their rail lines underground
The Titanic • This great ship reveals what life is like for people at the beginning of the 20th Century • The rich live in great comfort and luxury. • Many poor people find life so difficult, they have to leave their homeland and emigrate to places to make a new start. • The ship struck an iceberg on April 15, 1912 and sank
World War One 1914 -18 All the optimism of the beginning of the 20th Century is shattered with the outbreak of World War One. Deaths – 8,538,315 soldiers died
The Jazz Age Roaring Twenties The war brings a lot of change, for example: • Women find greater freedom • Young people have greater freedom • More people can vote • With peace, people enjoy themselves, going to music halls, dance halls and listen to the great musicians of the Jazz Age.
questions • Compare and contrast the ideas behind Italian Futurism with the American experience of progress. • In your view, what impact did events like the sinking of the Titanic and WWI have on people’s belief in progress? • Describe some of the social factors and changes that you see as contributing to the growing interest in Science fiction and the development of new publishing genres. • What seems to be missing in the Futurists vision of the new world to come?
