Futurism in art, was an offspring of French cubism. It arose in Italy and came near attaining a rank of real importance among the manifestations of modern art in the early years of the 20th century. It failed because it was a purely intellectual and consciously planned movement, without any spontaneity in the emotions of its practitioners.
The poet Marinetti did most to shape it with a series of the most brilliant manifestoes of the century. Giacomo Balla, who painted "Moving Dog in Leash," Luigi Russolo, painter of "Dynamism of an Auto," Cario D. Carra, who created the superb "Funeral of the Anarchist Galli," the sculptor, Umberto Boccioni, and Ihe Italian-trained American, Joseph Stella, who painted "Brooklyn Bridge," came closest to making
futurism immortal. »
Had futurism been as firmly grounded in native Italian elements as even the English pre-raphaelite
movemenl it might have matched German expressionism in importance. Futurism added a fourth dimension to cubism. Marinetti spoke of "the simultaneousness of the ambient," which included not only the "dislocation and dismemberment of objects" justified by the cubists but also a reconstruction by the artist, not only in space but in time—today, yesterday, tomorrow, all at once.