by Riyaz Tayibji
‘Ornamentation and crime’ was written by Adolf Loos between 1905-1908. It was written during the Art Nouveau was a new way of modern art came out. He thought it was crime to waste the effort needed to add ornamentation to any object. He believed that anyone with a tattoo was a criminal or a degenerate. He believed ornamentation was immoral. He said ‘freedom from ornament is a sign of spiritual strength.’ He talks about how the mechanical way in which an object evolves and becomes simpler. The object in the simplest form is the one he believes is the most efficient and the most evolved. He believes that the most evolved human is the most beautiful .He writes in the text that an object is most evolved when it is stripped off all its ornamentation. He mentions that the productivity becomes low when ornamentation is added it an object. At one point of time in history, ornamentation signified royalty and luxury, but not anymore. He believes ornamentation is a proof of a lot of money and hence extended labour on an object which would function the same without ornamentation. He believes ornamentation is inefficiency and that it is anti-progress. He doesn’t find ornamentation to be valuable.
The Manifesto of futurism was written by Filippo Tommasa Marinetti, who was an Italian poet. It was published on 5th February 1909 in Italian newspaper Gazzetta dell’Emilia in Bologna. He had written it in 1908 but avoided publishing it till 1909 because the news of an earthquake in Sisilly was the headlines in 1908. He wanted maximum impact from his manifesto. The manifesto initiated an artistic philosophy and futurism that was rejection of past and celebration of speed, machinery, violence, youth and machinery. It advocated modernization and cultural rejuvenation.
The manifesto was an attack from the inside. The paintings at that period of time were about realism. They tried to recreate nature. With Cameras becoming a common commodity in the market in the 1900, these artists had an existential crisis. What would a painter do? 1898-1915 saw the greatest flurry of the artistic movements. The surrealism ,cubism , impressionists, fauvism, futurism all came up at this time to create something new, a way of representation objects, nature, people etc. in a new way. The cubists tried to draw all perspectives of an object in one painting. The artists who were used to painting romantic paintings tried to paint new perspectives using similar techniques. The art movement also started a play of imagination. Dirty streets, arsenals and experimentation. What was once the delicate and clean and picture perfect art style changed into this modern representation of not so perfect scenarios of realism. The expression of art was about movement. It portrayed movement and not just a stable body that was idol. There was an exploration of space and the images evoked urbanity. The futurist manifesto played a part in this movement by writing about revolution, change, machine and power that he thought the society had to know about.
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