Aesthetics of War

"For twenty-seven years, we Futurists have rebelled against the idea that war is anti-aesthetic…. 

We therefore state: … War is beautiful because - thanks to its gas masks, its terrifying megaphones, its flame throwers, and light tanks-it establishes man’s dominion over the subjugated machine. War is beautiful because it inaugurates the dreamed-of metallization of the human body. War is beautiful because it enriches a flowering meadow with the fiery orchids of machine-guns. War is beautiful because it combines gllnfire) barrages, cease-fires, scents, and the fragrance of putrefaction into a symphony. War is beautiful because it creates new architectures, like those of armored tanks, geometric squadrons of aircraft, spirals of smoke from burning villages, and much more. . . . Poets and artists of Futurism,… remember these principles of an aesthetic of war, that they may illuminate … your struggles for a new poetry and a new sculpture!"

-

 Manifesto for the Colonial War in Ethiopia

  

FILIPPO TOMMASO MARINETTI