Believe it or not, London has one of the world’s best collections of Italian Futurist art. Like all the best museums and galleries, the Estorick Collection started as one man’s obsession – American writer Eric Estorick discovered Futurism during his honeymoon in Switzerland, and soon became a major collector.

The Futurists were a bunch of artists who were excited by the potential of modern machinery and technology. (To their discredit, some of them were also excited by the apparently modernist appeal of Fascism.)

Some of the earliest Futurist art is brash, energetic and powerful.   But my favourite works in the exhibition come from a later date, when  individual artists had developed their different styles. Marino Marini became obsessed with the figures of horses and riders (a bit like Elizabeth Frink, who also found the horse-and-rider combination inspiring). His bronze ‘quadriga’, four horses of immense energy but captured in a very frontal, almost formal way, takes the power of Futurism to its extreme – while forsaking the world of machinery for the natural world.

Saddest, perhaps, are the delicate paintings of Zoran Music, a Slovene Italian who was interned in Dachau during the Second World War. His landscapes too feature horses, but they are turned away from us, staring into the misty grey background.

Where: 39a Canonbury Square, N1 (nearest station: Highbury and Islington).

 When: weekdays (not Mon/Tues) 1000-1800 (1000-1700 on Sundays).

 How much: £3.50 (concessions £2.50; children and NUS cardholders free)

Photo  credit: Marshall Astor on flickr. Of course, this isnt’ the ‘real’ Futurists –  it’s the poster for a pub gig a few years back. But I thought it was fun.

Post from: The London Traveler