A painting of two figures dancing on a colorful background.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The background of the painting is composed of bright but thinly applied patches of blue, green, red, and yellow. A layer of white paint has been applied over the background from top to bottom, narrow at the top but widening to cover the entire bottom of the picture. On the white section are two forms composed of fragmented, varied shapes in flesh-toned strokes, gold paint with red highlights and topped with black shapes.

Gallery Text

Severini was a prominent painter of Italian futurism, the first strategically organized avant-garde art movement of the twentieth century. It was launched by poet, polemicist, and entrepreneur Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909. The futurists declared war on traditional art and outmoded cultural institutions and proclaimed the advent of an aesthetic that would embody the dynamism of modern life and its enhancement by technology. The Yellow Dancers was one of eight seminal works by Severini included in the first major futurist exhibition, held in Paris in February 1912. Two cabaret dancers whirling in a spotlight are reduced to scattered shards of black, yellow, and fleshy pink, following a principle stated in the 1910 Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting: “movement and light destroy the materiality of bodies.”

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1961.132
People
Gino Severini, Italian (Cortona, Italy 1883 - 1966 Paris, France)
Title
The Yellow Dancers
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1911-1912
Culture
Italian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/312203

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1300, Modern and Contemporary Art, Early Modernism
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
45.7 x 61 x 2.3 cm (18 x 24 x 7/8 in.)
framed: 64 x 79 x 5.5 cm (25 3/16 x 31 1/8 x 2 3/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: On stretcher, u.r., graphite: Gino Severini

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Gino Severini created 1912, sold; to [R. R. Meyer-See, The Sackville Gallery London] (1912-?). [Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, Stuttgart, 29-30 May, 1956, no. 1154], sold; to [Saidenberg Gallery, New York], sold; to Joseph H. Hazen (1958-1961), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1961.

Note: D. Fonti has stated that the painting was taken to the United States shortly after its 1912 sale in London.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hazen
Copyright
© Gino Severini / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Accession Year
1961
Object Number
1961.132
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Milton Keyes, Arts: A Third Level Course: Modern Art 1848 to the Present: Styles and Social, The Open University Press (United Kingdom), mentioned p. 143, reproduced p. 143, fig. 103
  • Marianne W. Martin, Futurist Art and Theory 1909-1915, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1968), Text pps. 101-102; reproduced b/w, Pl. 71
  • Anne d'Harnoncourt, Futurism and The International Avant-Garde, exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA, 1980), no. 64, reproduced b/w; text, p.21
  • Daniela Fonti, Gino Severini: Catalogo ragionato, Edizioni Phillippe Daverio, Milano (Milan, 1988), p. 119, cat. no. 96, ill.
  • Anna Gruetzner Robins, Modern Art in Britain, 1910-1914, exh. cat., Merrell Holberton (London, England, 1997), p. 62 repro., cat. 182
  • Daniela Fonti, Gino Severini: The Dance 1909-1916, St. Martin's Press (2001), page 71
  • Flavio Fergonzi, The Mattoli Collection: Masterpieces of the Italian Avant-garde, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (New York, 2003), pp. 330-331 (ill in. b/w)
  • Le Futurisme a Paris: une avant-garde explosive, Editions du Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2008), p. 170-171, fig. 43

Exhibition History

  • Cubism: Explorations and Adaptations, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 09/18/1982 - 10/26/1982
  • Masterpieces of European Art, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 06/22/1985 - 09/15/1985
  • Modern Art in Britain 1910-1914, Barbican Art Gallery, London, 02/20/1997 - 05/26/1997
  • Futurism and Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 10/15/2008 - 01/26/2009; Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 02/20/2009 - 05/24/2009; Tate Modern, London, 06/12/2009 - 09/20/2009
  • Modern Art and Modernity, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2013 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 1300 Early Modernism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu