The Futurist Urban Dynamic
An interesting challenge for the 20th century illustrator - how do you
show the dynamic of the Electrical City - the City of Wireless Signals
and flying machines. How to show the City of the Futurists ?
This astonishing drawing by H.M.Bateman flirts with the Futurist concept
of the street penetrating the House (Boccioni for instance) . Whenever
Futurism appears in English cartoons, it is incomprehensible whirling
shapes produced by long haired foreigners. Bateman here finds an exciting
way of distorting the reality of viewing the street from the Balcony.
The point of the cartoon is clearly the tryst between the woman on the
balcony and the officer leading his troops - with all the ensuing seismic
effects on the neighbours, cats and street. The impact of Love. And Boccioni.
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