Gino Severini

Private Collection, Milan
May Walter, New York (1961)
Eugene Thaw, New York
Mario Tazzoli Gallery, Turin
Galleria Philippe Daverio, Milan
Leonardo Mondadori, Milan
Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York
Private Collection, Massachusetts
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Berlin, Galerie Der Sturm, Sechzehnte Ausstellung Gemälde und Zeichnungen des Futuristen Gino Severini, 1913, no. 12, illustrated in the catalogue
London, Marlborough Gallery, The Futurist painter Severini exhibits his latest works, 1913, no. 12, illustrated in the catalogue
Naples, Galleria Futurista, Prima Esposizione di Pittura Futurista, 1914, no. 15
Rome, Galleria in via del Tritone 123, Présence: Gino Severini, 1945, no. 8
New York, The Museum of Modern Art; Detroit, Institute of Arts & Los Angeles, County Museum, Futurism, 1961, no. 115
New York, Philippe Daverio Gallery, Futurism: 1911-1918, 1988, no. 17, illustrated in the catalogue

L'Autobus belongs to a pivotal group of charcoal drawings and paintings (fig. 1) that Severini executed in late 1912 and early 1913 on the theme of buses and trains in movement, exploring the key concepts of Futurism: movement and speed. The founders of Italian Futurism viewed dynamism, speed and light as the essential characteristics of modernity, and sought to celebrate the scientific and technological advances of the twentieth century. Paraphrasing Einstein in 1913, Gino Severini declared that 'speed has given us a new notion of space and time' and L'Autobus, executed in the same year, is an early example of the pictorial language he developed to communicate the bewildering sensations and experiences of modern life.

As the artist himself proclaimed: 'It has been my endeavour to produce by means of lines and planes the rhythmic sensation of speed, of spasmodic motion, and of deafening noise. The heavy vehicle pursues its headlong career from Montmartre to Montrouge along the crowded streets of Paris, dashing across the path of other motors, grazing their very wheels and hurling itself in the direction of the houses' (quoted in D. Fonti, op. cit., p. 141). With its vortex of abstract lines and prismatic forms, L'Autobus presents the high point of Severini's art, and demonstrates the virtuosity with which he achieved the Futurist ideal. Fascinated with the pace of modern life and excited by new technology, Severini's fellow Futurist Giacomo Balla found their perfect embodiment in the image of a speeding automobile (fig. 2). The two artists experimented with breaking up the image in a way that enabled them to translate the visual effect of movement on a two-dimensional surface.

Having settled in Paris in 1906, Severini's art came under the influence of various modernist avant-garde movements. In particular, the present work demonstrates the impact of Orphism of Robert Delaunay, with whom he shared an interest in depicting motion and the urban landscape. Furthermore, Severini used multiple viewpoints inherited from Cubism to capture the new planes of reality opened by relativity and to symbolise the fractured nature of modern perception; all distinctions between previously autonomous objects disintegrate as figures, shops and signs interlock, forming a unique image that captures the rhythm of the metropolis.

The subject of a bus in motion across the city allowed Severini to combine the theme of movement with the human and psychological aspects of the passengers captured in their daily activities. The dynamic of the present composition arises from the combination of the figures inside the bus and the city that surrounds them. Whilst Severini used techniques derived from Cubism, he sought to inject a new sense of momentum and urgency into the static and classically harmonious compositions of Picasso and Braque. Vehicles symbolised man's mechanical achievements, and increasingly took on a poetic meaning to the practitioners of Futurism: 'We choose to concentrate our attention on things in motion', wrote Severini, 'because our modern sensibility is particularly qualified to grasp the idea of speed. Heavy powerful motorcars rushing through the streets of our cities, dancers reflected in the fairy ambiance of light and colour, airplanes flying above the head of the excited throng... These sources of emotion satisfy our sense of the lyric and dramatic universe, better than do two peas and an apple' (quoted in Futurism (exhibition catalogue), 1961, op. cit., p. 11).

The present work was included in a 1913 Futurist exhibition held in Berlin at Galerie der Sturm, which was instrumental in supporting the movement and spreading its acclaim outside Italy. In the spring of 1912 Galerie der Sturm organised the first exhibition of Futurist art ever shown in Germany, and one of the first of its kind outside Italy. Despite its low critical acclaim, the exhibition was extremely popular with the Berlin public, and was to play a crucial role in the artistic development of German Expressionism. Recognised from early stages as one of the key works in the artist's ¿uvre, L'Autobus was also included in Severini's first solo exhibition, held at the Marlborough Gallery in London in 1913.

Fig. 1, Gino Severini, L'Autobus, 1913, oil on canvas, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Fig. 2, Giacomo Balla, Velocità d'automobile + luci, 1913, oil on gold paper laid down on board. Sold: Sotheby's, New York, 8^th May 2007

Fig. 3, Severini in his Paris studio, 1913