Italian Futurism vs Vorticism

イタリア未来派 / ヴォーティシズム

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.

Vorticism

Vorticism — 『BLAST』創刊号 1914 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainVorticism — 『BLAST』第2号 1915 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainVorticism — ウィンダム・ルイス《A Canadian Gun-pit》 1918 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Britain's avant-garde detonated in the magazine BLAST: diagonal machine-cut lines, blunt heavy type and lists of blasts and blessings turning typography into a declaration of war.

Italian FuturismVorticism
Era1909–1940s1914–1918
FamilyAvant-gardeAvant-garde
KindStyleStyle
CuesWords-in-freedom / Radiating type / Onomatopoeia / Extreme jumps in scaleDiagonal machine-cut lines / Blunt heavy type / The BLAST/BLESS lists / The dynamics of the vortex
Best used forConverting sound and speed into still images · Controlled explosions for titles and announcementsManifestos and first issues whose stance must land before it is read · Statements built as named lists that set two positions against each other
TypeTreat differing weights, widths and angles as volumeVery heavy caps, one word per line, tight leading
CompositionFix one point of impact; radiate and accelerate the wordsDiagonal bands tearing the page, elements drawn toward one core
MaterialBlack and off-white with one warning colorClose to a single black ink on coarse-surfaced stock
CautionNever split the movement's innovation from its embrace of war and Fascism; handle it critically.Borrowing only the habit of naming enemies leaves a page whose targets mean nothing to today's reader, and nothing but bravado remains.

Put these two together

Avant-garde

IndexStyle