During his hort life (1882-1916), the Italian painter and sculptor Umberto Boccioni created a small but manifold oeuvre, the importance of which for the development of modern art is doubtless. In this monograph Uwe M.Schneede honours Boccioni's generally established position especially as member of the radically futuristic movement, but also emphasizes with a new interpretation of main works his own performance within this group. Boccioni's traditionconsciousness - also during the change to modernism - shows the influence of Beardsley, Munch and Previati. Together with the futurists around Marinetti, Balla and Russolo, Boccioni joins an avantgarde but - as Schneede estabishes by means of his disputed late works - he decided in the dealing with cubism on its fruitful synthesis with contemporary art instead of the total negation of tradition.