Boccioni, Umberto

Boccioni, Umberto (1882-1916), Italian painter, sculptor, and theorist, and a leader of the Futurist movement. He wrote the Technical Manifesto of Futuristic Painting (1910), in which he presented the group's revolutionary demand that artists free themselves from the past and embrace the modern world, with its movement, speed, and dynamism. Though he was influenced by Cubism, he eschewed straight lines and used complementary colours to create a glittering effect. In his paintings, such as Dynamism of a Cyclist (c. 1913, G. Mattioli Collection, Milan), he conveyed a sense of movement by showing a sequence of movements in time. In his sculpture, which often combined wood, iron, and glass, Boccioni attempted to illustrate the interaction of a moving object with the space that surrounded it.