A Centennial of Italian Futurism: Selections from the Collection

December 16, 2009–April 28, 2011
The Wolfsonian–FIU @ 1001 Washington Avenue

The Italian Futurists rejected the past absolutely and incorporated in their work the pulsing energy they saw as the dominant characteristic of modern life. The spirit of the new age was the dynamic motion made possible by the advent of modern transportation and machine technology. “We affirm that the word’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed,” wrote Filippo Marinetti in 1909, stating the credo of the avant-garde movement Futurism, which started in Paris but quickly fixated Italy.

Futurists in Italy celebrated the technological marvels of the modern age as well as all manifestations of speed, dynamism, and violent struggle. Their paintings, sculptures, books, and printed manifestoes reflected the belief that technology affected not only the material, but also the spiritual and intellectual aspects of daily life. In the 1920s, the movement linked itself with the Fascist government, and ultimately reached its culmination in the regime’s 1932 “Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution,” which featured Futurist works celebrating the Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini and the achievements of the Fascist government. A Centennial of Italian Futurism: Selections from the Collection brought forth Wolfsonian objects that illustrate this trajectory of Futurism: from progressive promise to propaganda.