Italian Futurism vs Rayonism

イタリア未来派 / レイヨニスム

Both sit in Avant-garde, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Italian Futurism

Italian Futurism — Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, ZANG TUMB TUUUM, 1915 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainItalian Futurism — ボッチョーニ『空間における連続性の唯一の形態』1913 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0Italian Futurism — ボッチョーニ 習作 1913 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Converts speed, noise and shock into the size and trajectory of letters, setting the quiet page in motion.

Rayonism

Rayonism — Mikhail Larionov《赤と青のレイヨニスム（浜辺）》1911 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainRayonism — Natalia Goncharova《レイヨニスムの百合》1913 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainRayonism — Natalia Goncharova《猫》1913 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

A Russian abstraction that declared its subject to be not objects themselves but the crossing of light rays reflected from them. Sharp diagonal bundles of lines intersect, dissolving the object into an interference pattern of light. It marked the point where Russian abstraction broke away from Cubism.

Italian FuturismRayonism
Era1909–1940s1912–1914
FamilyAvant-gardeAvant-garde
KindStyleStyle
CuesWords-in-freedom / Radiating type / Onomatopoeia / Extreme jumps in scaleSharp bundles of diagonal lines / Planes formed where lines intersect / Disappearance of the object's contour / Layering of a restricted palette
Best used forConverting sound and speed into still images · Controlled explosions for titles and announcementsDrawing invisible phenomena such as speed or radio waves as bundles of crossing lines · Covers and backgrounds that leave only a trace of the subject without ever depicting it
TypeTreat differing weights, widths and angles as volumeSharp, angular display type set on the diagonal, almost absorbed into the ray structure
CompositionFix one point of impact; radiate and accelerate the wordsAssume a light source outside the frame, cross sharp shafts, planes only where they meet
MaterialBlack and off-white with one warning colorA few translucent colors layered over a dark or neutral ground, densest where they cross
CautionNever split the movement's innovation from its embrace of war and Fascism; handle it critically.Drawing the object and adding rays on top leaves contours beneath the lines and the dissolution into light fails, and rays that never build planes at their crossings stay mere diagonal decoration.

Put these two together

Avant-garde

IndexStyle