Italian Futurism 1909–1944 maps the full arc of one of modernism's most volatile movements — from Marinetti's incendiary founding manifesto through the uncomfortable entanglement with Italian fascism and the movement's collapse at the end of World War II.
About This Book
Published to accompany the first comprehensive overview of Italian Futurism presented in the United States, this Guggenheim Museum catalogue is the most far-reaching survey of the movement in English. Where most treatments focus on the canonical painters, this volume refuses that narrowness: over 300 works span painting, sculpture, architecture, design, ceramics, fashion, film, photography, advertising, poetry, music, theatre and performance. The result is a portrait of Futurism not as a style but as a total cultural project — one whose ideological trajectory, from radical provocation to fascist alignment, remains as instructive as its formal achievements. Essential for scholars of avant-garde movements, modernist design history, and twentieth-century Italian culture.
Key Features
- 352 pages of full-colour reproductions and scholarly catalogue essays spanning painting, sculpture, architecture, design, film, photography, fashion, and performance
- Edited by Vivien Greene
- Works by Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Anton Giulio Bragaglia, Fortunato Depero, Gerardo Dottori, Marinetti, Ivo Pannaggi, Rosa Rosà, Luigi Russolo, Tato, and many others
- Published by Guggenheim Museum Publications
What You'll Discover
- How Futurism extended far beyond fine art into architecture, industrial design, ceramics, typography, and fashion — reconceived here as a unified avant-garde programme
- The movement's ideological evolution from radical anti-establishment provocation to its deeply compromised relationship with Italian fascism
- The breadth of practitioners involved, including overlooked figures such as Rosa Rosà alongside canonical names, revealing a more contested and plural movement than is commonly acknowledged
- Futurism's engagement with new media and mass culture — film, photography, advertising, and performance — as central rather than peripheral to the project
About the Author
[Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 352
- Dimensions: 29.2 x 21.6 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780892075126
- Publisher: Guggenheim Museum Publications
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects, designers, and historians with an interest in the avant-garde; scholars of modernism, Italian cultural history, or the politics of art movements; and collectors seeking a definitive English-language survey of Futurism across all disciplines.