Study for "Homage to Mother"
1907
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
15 1/2 × 22 3/4 in. (39.4 × 57.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Lydia Winston Malbin, 1989
Accession Number
1990.38.7
Tags
Art Historical Context
Umberto Boccioni'sStudy for "Homage to Mother"* (1907 is a poignant preparatory drawing in graphite on paper, measuring 15½ × 22¾ inches (39.4 × 57.8 cm). Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's and Contemporary Art department—thanks to the bequest of Lydia Winstonbin in 1989—this work captures Boccioni at age 25, on the cusp of his meteoric rise as a leader in Italy's Futurist movement. The sketch depicts men and women absorbed in reading, evoking domestic scenes and themes of reverence, perhaps familial bonds central to the titular painting it precedes. Graphite's fine, versatile medium ...
About the Artist
Umberto Boccioni · 1882–1916
Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916) was an Italian painter and sculptor who became the leading artist and principal theorist of the Futurist movement. Born in Reggio Calabria, he studied in Rome under the Divisionist painter Giacomo Balla and was deeply influenced by Post-Impressionism before encountering the ideas of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, whose 1909 Futurist Manifesto catalyzed Boccioni's artistic ...