II Coppa della Perugina, 1925
Lazzaro, Umberto di.
Crociera Aerea del Decennale, 1933
Colombo Grappa Menta Beverage Label, 1930
Futurism was one of the first "isms" of the 20th century - and one of the most influential. Begun by the Italian poet Tommaso Marinetti in 1908, Futurism was a movement and a style which glorified modern technology and rejected the past.
Attempting to wake Italy up from its political and cultural reliance on the past, Marinetti shocked audiences with poetry that had no words and music without notes. He supported a young group of Italian artists who wanted to bring the same spirit of rebellion and modernity to art.
These artists, many working in Paris, used the language of Cubism to express their concept of "simultaneity", the notion of dynamism in the modern world. Ultimately, the Futurists invented visual techniques such as lines of force to express speed and noise.
Marinetti was a strong supporter of Mussolini, who shared his passion for modern technology. Futurism however proved too avant-garde for the Fascists, who wanted art to glorify ancient Rome as much as to tout modernism, to gain the support of the Italian population. As a result, the highly abstract Futurist styles of artists like Depero, Venna and Diulgheroff proved to be the exception rather than the rule in commerce.
Nevertheless, the language of Futurism became an essential component of Art Deco, and the Suprematist and Constructivist art of Russia and the Soviet Union.
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1934 XII-Si, 1934
Fiat 520 Optima!. 1928