Page 34 - Studio International - July August 1975

Sawing, The Bow, and Changing
Positions. Like Balla and Boccioni,
Bragaglia made constant reference to the
`paths of movement' of bodies in action,
elevating a knowledge of these paths to
the new anatomy indispensable for
contemporary painters, an historic
breakthrough which was, he claimed,
`the new technique for making art'.
But for Bragaglia movement had a
dematerializing effect that went beyond
the field of physical phenonemon. For
him its nature was transcendental in that
it exposed the 'interior essence of things',
and here at least in theory he was closer
to Brancusi than the Futurists. It was
this transcendental nature that he
claimed for his Photodynamism. In his
view it represented a move away from
reality, and this shift of emphasis was his
answer to those who accused his images
of vagueness and distortion. For him the
presentation of the essence changed the
relationship between the work and the
public, transforming it from the
traditionally passive exchange to an
active one, but in a more profound way
than the futurist painters' compositional
devices for 'putting the spectator in the
middle of the picture'. 8 Bragaglia
believed that movement had properties
that were not graspable through the
`insipid faculty' of vision, and he
suggested the development of new
perceptual senses. He wanted not only
the aesthetic expression, but also the
`inner, sensorial, cerebral and psychic
emotions we feel when an action leaves
its superb unbroken trace'.
As for photodynamic images
themselves, Bragaglia was no more
successful than his fellow Futurists in
bridging the gap between theory and
practice, aim and achievement. Without
prior knowledge of his interest in
spiritual matters, it would be hard to
imagine the level of consciousness at
which he was aiming. Nor would one be
likely to find in the images 'the Carpenter Sawing, 1911
vertiginous lyrical expression of life, the
lively invocation of the magnificent
dynamic feeling with which the universe
incessantly vibrates'. On the other hand
they do possess an arresting quality that
would ensure them the qualification of art
work rather than mere technical
innovation.
Bragaglia was obviously concerned
to prove that art was not predetermined
by the medium used. Any medium
could be art and he considered both the
content and the language of the particular
means. For Boccioni, the limits of what
could be called art coincided with the
disciplines already established in the
hierarchy, and so Photodynamism was
excluded a priori whatever the visual
result. Bragaglia, on the other hand,
whilst claiming the status of an
autonomous art form for his
photodynamic images, put them into
frames and liked them to be referred to
as 'quadri'.
This confusion of status is not
surprising in the context of the period : The Typist, 1911
photography was still popularly
considered an encroachment on the field
of painting and, as an art, had not yet
been drawn into the context of modern
movements — no equivalent of
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