These new developments in technology and in particular the works of Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey, inspired artists such as Umberto Boccioni, Marcel Duchamp and Giocomo Balla.

By investigating the work in chronophotography by Muybridge and Marey, as well as the new technologies of the camera and advances in machinery which inspired the Futurists, it is possible to see how the artists mentioned have created works that are based on and inspired by technology, and are therefore works which capture the ‘spirit of the century’.

In the late 1800’s, two artists, Eadweard Muybridge in England and Etienne-Jules Marey in France, developed new ways of using the photographic camera in order to capture what looked like the actual sequence of movement. Muybridge set up a line of cameras which took individual photos of a figure, which, when p

The Futurist movement was the first modern movement to both materially and conceptually embrace technology. The artists of this movement were inspired by what they perceived to be truly beautiful: machines, power, movement, noise and speed. Giocomo Balla’s work Abstract Speed: The Car Has Passes 1913 was a typical Futurist work, which sought to capture the movement, power and speed of the subject matter, the car.

The Futurists were also greatly influenced by the work of Muybridge and Marey. They relied on the use of photography to study and understand the portrayal of movement. They invented the term dynamism, a technique of drawing and painting objects in multiple positions to produce the illusion of motion. Even though photography was a relatively new innovation and considered new technology of the time, the Futurists were criticised for their use of photography.

Some topics in this essay:
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