Boccioni, Umberto (1882-1916)
Sviluppo di una bottiglia nello spazio (Development of a Bottle in Space)
1913, cast 1950
Bronze, 39.4 x 60.3 x 39.4 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
In March 1912 Boccioni wrote, “These days I am obsessed by sculpture! I believe I have glimpsed a complete renovation of that mummified art.” A month later he published the “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture,” and by June 1913 he had produced eleven sculptures, including Development of a Bottle in Space. Rather than delineating the contours of his subject, a bottle, Boccioni integrated the object’s internal and external spatial planes, which appear to unfold and spiral into surrounding space. (MET)