Manifesto Of Futurism

Le Figaro, 20 February 1909, Futurist Manifesto

The Futurist Manifesto was one of the first documents to celebrate the automobile as an object of beauty and to cite speed and acceleration as aesthetic elements. “We declare that the splendor of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed,” Marinetti proclaimed.

Futurism emphasized the dynamism, speed, energy, and power of the machine and the vitality, change, and restlessness of modern life in general. The most significant results of the movement were in the visual arts and poetry. 

The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.

Personally I found the manifesto quite difficult to read and quite shocking taking into consideration when it was published. Marinetti glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power and movement. He promoted violence and conflict. The manifesto's rhetoric felt passionately bombastic and the tone aggressive and explosive and purposely intended to encourage anger and confusion to motivate controversy.

I also came across a video an interpretation of futurism which gives an impression and creates feeling of that era. 

First Surrealist Manifesto

After reading The First Surrealist Manifesto I got a bit confused and decided to do a bit more research on it. This is what I came across.

http://www.createtoday.com/w/significance-of-the-first-surrealist-manifesto/16252 

There Taymaz Valley very good analyses the manifesto and after reading it trough it got much clearer for me.

"Surrealism as a movement is a very important one, as it led to the survival of avant-garde ideas. The return to classical style and ideology wich had taken place in the European nations, due to lack of identity post war, had left many unsatisfied; and Surrealism gave the intellectuals the boost they needed. This move away from the materialistic and Bourgeois values of society was celebrated by the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, and it provided an alternative. The fact that the first manifesto was named “La Revolution” gave it the attraction it needed. A war that had left many questioning the system and their morals, had a direct affect on the way Andre Breton had been thinking. His experiences as a junior doctor had given him the opportunity to broaden his knowledge in areas that interested him. Fraud and his doctrine, were a big influence on the surrealistic movement. And, surrealism in turn, had an enormous effect on other avant-garde movements later in history, Abstract-Expressionism to name one.

The first surrealist manifesto of 1924, gave the movement its basis. It provided an outline of ideas and philosophy which was to be followed and improved on. It was immensely successful in its objectives, and established surrealism as a movement."