Guggenheim Museum Presents Unprecedented Survey of Italian Futurism Opening in February First Comprehensive Overview of the Influential Movement to Be Shown in the U.S. Featuring Over 360 Works, Including Several Never Before Seen Outside of Italy

Exhibition: Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe

Venue: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York

Location: Full rotunda and ramps, High Gallery, Annex Levels 5 and 7

Dates: February 21–September 1, 2014 Media Preview: Thursday, February 20, 10 am–1 pm

(NEW YORK, NY – January 16, 2014) — From February 21 through September 1, 2014, the Solomon

R. Guggenheim Museum presents Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe, the first

comprehensive overview in the United States of one of Europe’s most important 20th-century avant-

garde movements. Featuring over 360 works by more than 80 artists, architects, designers,

photographers, and writers, this multidisciplinary exhibition examines the full historical breadth of

Futurism, from its 1909 inception with the publication of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s first Futurist

manifesto through its demise at the end of World War II. The exhibition includes many rarely seen

works, some of which have never traveled outside of Italy. It encompasses not only painting and

sculpture, but also the advertising, architecture, ceramics, design, fashion, film, free-form poetry,

photography, performance, publications, music, and theater of this dynamic and often contentious

movement that championed modernity and insurgency.

The exhibition is organized by Vivien Greene, Senior Curator, 19th- and Early 20th-Century Art,

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. An international advisory committee composed of eminent

scholars from many disciplines provided expertise and guidance in the preparation of this thorough

exploration of the Futurist movement, a major modernist expression that in many ways remains little

known among American audiences.

This exhibition is made possible by Lavazza.

Support is provided in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the David Berg Foundation,

with additional funding from the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation, The Robert Lehman

Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

The Leadership Committee for Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe is also

gratefully acknowledged for its generosity, including the Hansjörg Wyss Charitable Endowment;

Stefano and Carole Acunto; Giancarla and Luciano Berti; Ginevra Caltagirone; Massimo and Sonia

Cirulli Archive; Daniela Memmo d’Amelio; Achim Moeller, Moeller Fine Art; Pellegrini Legacy

Trust; and Alberto and Gioietta Vitale.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

About Futurism

Futurism was launched in 1909 against a background of growing economic and social upheaval. In

Marinetti’s “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism,” published in Le Figaro, he outlined the

movement’s key aims, among them: to abolish the past, to champion modernization, and to extol

aggression. Although it began as a literary movement, Futurism soon embraced the visual arts as well as

advertising, fashion, music and theater, and it spread throughout Italy and beyond. The Futurists

rejected stasis and tradition and drew inspiration from the emerging industry, machinery, and speed of

the modern metropolis. The first generation of artists created works characterized by dynamic

movement and fractured forms, aspiring to break with existing notions of space and time to place the

viewer at the center of the artwork. Extending into many mediums, Futurism was intended to be not just

an artistic idiom but an entirely new way of life. Central to the movement was the concept of the opera

d’arte totale or “total work of art,” in which the viewer is surrounded by a completely Futurist

environment.

More than two thousand individuals were associated with the movement over its duration. In addition to

Marinetti, central figures include: artists Giacomo Balla, Benedetta (Benedetta Cappa Marinetti),

Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Fortunato Depero, and Enrico Prampolini; poets and writers Francesco

Cangiullo and Rosa Rosà; architect Antonio Sant’Elia; composer Luigi Russolo; photographers Anton

Giulio Bragaglia and Tato (Guglielmo Sansoni); dancer Giannina Censi; and ceramicist Tullio

d’Albisola. These figures and other lesser-known ones are represented in the exhibition.

Futurism is commonly understood to have had two phases: “heroic” Futurism, which lasted until around

1916, and a later incarnation that arose after World War I and remained active until the early 1940s.

Investigations of “heroic” Futurism have predominated and comparatively few exhibitions have explored

the subsequent life of the movement; until now, a comprehensive overview of Italian Futurism had yet

to be presented in the U.S. Italian art of the 1920s and ’30s is little known outside of its home country,

due in part to a taint from Futurism’s sometime association with Fascism. This association complicates

the narrative of this avant-garde and makes it all the more necessary to delve into and clarify its full

history.

Exhibition Overview

Italian Futurism unfolds chronologically, juxtaposing works in different mediums as it traces the myriad

artistic languages the Futurists employed as their practice evolved over a 35-year period. The exhibition

begins with an exploration of the manifesto as an art form, and proceeds to the Futurists’ catalytic

encounter with Cubism in 1911, their exploration of near-abstract compositions, and their early efforts in

photography. Ascending the rotunda levels of the museum, visitors follow the movement’s progression

as it expanded to include architecture, clothing, design, dinnerware, experimental poetry, and toys.

Along the way, it gained new practitioners and underwent several stylistic evolutions—shifting from the

fractured spaces of the 1910s to the machine aesthetics (or arte meccanica) of the ’20s, and then to the

softer, lyrical forms of the ’30s. Aviation’s popularity and nationalist significance in 1930s Italy led to the

swirling, often abstracted, aerial imagery of Futurism’s final incarnation, aeropittura. This novel painting

approach united the Futurist interest in nationalism, speed, technology, and war with new and dizzying

visual perspectives. The fascination with the aerial spread to other mediums, including ceramics, dance,

and experimental aerial photography.

The exhibition is enlivened by three films commissioned from documentary filmmaker Jen Sachs, which

use archival film footage, documentary photographs, printed matter, writings, recorded declamations,

and musical compositions to represent the Futurists’ more ephemeral work and to bring to life their

words-in-freedom poems. One film addresses the Futurists’ evening performances and events, called

serate, which merged “high” and “low” culture in radical ways and broke down barriers between

spectator and performer. Mise-en-scène installations evoke the Futurists’ opera d’arte totale interior

ensembles, from those executed for the private sphere to those realized under Fascism.

Italian Futurism concludes with the five monumental canvases that compose the Syntheses of

Communications (1933–34) by Benedetta (Benedetta Cappa Marinetti), which are being shown for the

first time outside of their original location. One of few public commissions awarded to a Futurist in the

1930s, the series of paintings was created for the Palazzo delle Poste (Post Office) in Palermo, Sicily.

The paintings celebrate multiple modes of communication, many enabled by technological innovations,

and correspond with the themes of modernity and the “total work of art” concept that underpinned the

Futurist ethos.

Exhibition Catalogue

A fully illustrated, 352-page catalogue accompanies Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the

Universe. Featuring the work of nearly thirty scholars, it offers an important contribution to the

understanding of this major avant-garde movement of the 20th century. Edited by exhibition curator

Vivien Greene, the book begins with three introductory essays: an overview of Futurism, an analysis of

its historiography, and an investigation of its social and political context. It is then structured like a

microhistory, with short texts focusing on specific artists, series, and moments to present a selection of

Futurism’s many facets. A hardcover edition priced at $60 and a softcover edition priced at $40 will be

available at the museum shop and online at guggenheimstore.org, and distributed in the United States

through ARTBOOK | D.A.P.

Education and Public Programs

Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe is accompanied by a range of public programs,

including a series of lectures by Futurist scholars, a gallery program, film screenings, and performances

by Luciano Chessa and Daniele Lombardi. For complete information about the programs presented in

conjunction with the exhibition, please visit guggenheim.org/calendar.

Futurism Lecture Series

In this lively series, distinguished scholars present current research on a range of significant themes,

artists, and disciplines within Italian Futurism including: the art and theories of Tactilism; machine

aesthetics; and World War I and female Futurist writers and artists. An exhibition viewing follows each

program. $12, $8 members, free for students with RSVP.

“Touch without Sight: Futurist Tattilismo”

Tuesday, April 1, 6:30 pm

Emily Braun, Distinguished Professor, Hunter College and The Graduate Center, City University of

New York (CUNY)

“Ivo Pannaggi, Arte Meccanica, and the International Avant-Garde”

Wednesday, May 7, 6:30 pm

Christine Poggi, Professor of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania

“War, Women, and Sexuality in the Futurist Avant-Garde”

Tuesday, May 20, 6:30 pm

Lucia Re, Professor of Italian and Gender Studies, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Curator’s Eye Tours

Fridays, 2 pm

Free with museum admission

March 21: Natalia Lauricella

April 4: Vivien Greene*

May 16: Natalia Lauricella*

June 27: Susan Thompson

July 18: Vivien Greene

August 22: Susan Thompson

*Tour interpreted in American Sign Language

Mind’s Eye Programs

Mondays, March 3, April 7, 6:30 pm

Wednesdays, March 12, April 9, 2 pm

For visitors who are blind or have low vision, tours and workshops focused on Italian Futurism, 1909–

1944: Reconstructing the Universe are presented through Verbal Description, touch, and sound. Free

with RSVP. For more information, visit guggenheim.org/mindseye.

About Lavazza

Lavazza prides itself on being Italy’s leading coffee brand and manufacturer. The company, founded in

1895, has been led by the Lavazza family for over a century of business, and currently operates in more

than ninety countries. Looking to the future, Lavazza seeks to make a second home in the United States

and expand its presence across the globe. With a long history of support for the arts, including

Renaissance art, photography, design, and music, Lavazza now joins the Guggenheim’s efforts to

promote greater understanding of Futurism. Through its sponsorship of the exhibition Italian Futurism,

1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe, Lavazza supports an art movement vital to its home country of

Italy while also reaching an international audience.

About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the

understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, through

exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The Guggenheim network that

began in the 1970s when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, was joined by the Peggy

Guggenheim Collection, Venice, has since expanded to include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

(opened 1997) and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (currently in development). Looking to the future, the

Guggenheim Foundation continues to forge international collaborations that take contemporary art,

architecture, and design beyond the walls of the museum. More information about the foundation can

be found at guggenheim.org.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Admission:::: Adults $22, students/seniors (65+) $18, members and children under 12 free. Available with

admission or by download to personal devices, the Guggenheim’s new, free app offers an enhanced

visitor experience. The app features content on special exhibitions, access to more than 1,200 works in

the Guggenheim’s permanent collection, and information about the museum’s landmark building.

Verbal Imaging guides for select exhibitions are also included for visitors who are blind or have low

vision. The Guggenheim app is sponsored by Bloomberg.

Museum Hours: : : : Sunday–Wednesday, 10 am–5:45 pm; Friday, 10 am–5:45 pm; Saturday, 10 am–7:45

pm; closed Thursday. On Saturdays, beginning at 5:45 pm, the museum hosts “Pay What You Wish.”

For general information, call 212 423 3500 or visit the museum online at:

guggenheim.org

guggenheim.org/connect

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January 16, 2014

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT

Betsy Ennis, Director, Media and Public Relations

Keri Murawski, Senior Publicist

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

212 423 3840

pressoffice@guggenheim.org

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L E N D E R S T O T H E E X H I B I T I O N

Collection of Renzo Arbore, Rome

Archivi Gerardo Dottori, Perugia

Archivio Galleria Campari, Milan

Merrill C. Berman Collection

Biagiotti Cigna Foundation, Guidonia, Italy

Casa Cavazzini, Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Udine, Italy

Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne/Centre de création industrielle

Massimo and Sonia Cirulli Archive, New York

Civico Gabinetto dei Disegni–Castello Sforzesco, Milan

Comune di Perugia, Museo civico di Palazzo della Penna

Corkin Gallery, Toronto

George Eastman House, Rochester, New York

Estorick Collection, London

Fondazione Carima–Museo Palazzo Ricci, Macerata, Italy

Fondazione Echaurren Salaris, Rome

Fonds Alberto Sartoris, Archives de la construction moderne–Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Università di Pisa

Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale

Galleria Civica di Modena, Italy

Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Rome

GAM, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin

The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles

Collection of Giorgio Grillo, Florence

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

Isisuf, Istituto Internazionale di Studi sul Futurismo, Milan

Collection Leoni, Erba, Italy

Libreria Antiquaria Pontremoli, Milan

Collection of Luce Marinetti, Rome

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Collection C. L. M. Seeber Michahelles, Rome

Moeller Fine Art, New York – Berlin

Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York

Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris

Musée de Grenoble, France

Museo Civico di Cuneo, Italy

Museo del Novecento, Milan

Museo Storico dell’Aeronautica Militare, Rome

Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Österreichisches Theatermuseum, Vienna

Pinacoteca Civica di Como, Italy

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Touring Club Italiano Archive, Milan

Ventura Collection, Rome

Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany

The Wolfsonian–Florida International University, Miami Beach

Wolfsoniana–Fondazione regionale per la Cultura e lo Spettacolo, Genoa

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Private collection, Foligno, Italy

Private collection, Rome

Private collection, Switerzland

Private collectors who wish to remain anonymous

E X H I B I T I O N A D V I S O R Y C O M M I T T E E

Walter L. Adamson Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Intellectual History,

Emory University, Atlanta

Silvia Barisione Curator, The Wolfsonian–Florida International University,

Miami Beach

Gabriella Belli Direttore, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia; Storica dell’arte

Dr. Günter Berghaus Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol

Emily Braun Distinguished Professor, Hunter College and The Graduate

Center, City University of New York (CUNY)

Marta Braun Director, Graduate Program in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, Ryerson University, Toronto

Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli Soprintendente, Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna

e contemporanea, Rome

Ester Coen Professore di Storia dell’Arte Contemporanea,

Università degli Studi dell’Aquila

Enrico Crispolti Professore emerito di Storia dell’Arte Contemporanea;

Direttore della Scuola di Specializzazione in Storia dell’Arte, Università degli Studi di Siena

Massimo Duranti Critico d’arte; Presidente, Archivi Gerardo Dottori, Perugia

Flavio Fergonzi Professore di Storia dell’Arte Contemporanea,

Università di Udine, Italy

Daniela Fonti Professore di Storia dell’Arte Contemporanea, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”

Simonetta Fraquelli Independent Curator

Emilio Gentile Professore emerito,

Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”

Giovanni Lista Directeur de Recherche,

Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Paris

Adrian Lyttelton Senior Adjunct Professor of European Studies,

Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Bologna Center

Laura Mattioli Storica dell’arte

Lisa Panzera Senior Director, McCaffrey Fine Art, New York

Eugenia Paulicelli Professor of Italian, Comparative Literature,

and Women’s Studies, Queens College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)

Maria Antonella Pelizzari Professor of Art History, Hunter College and The Graduate

Center, City University of New York (CUNY)

Christine Poggi Professor of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania

Marina Pugliese Direttore, Museo del Novecento, Milan

Lucia Re Professor of Italian and Gender Studies,

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Anna Maria Ruta Storica dell’arte

Michelangelo Sabatino, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Gerald D. Hines College of

Architecture, University of Houston

Claudia Salaris Storica delle avanguardie

Jeffrey T. Schnapp Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures;

Faculty Director, metaLAB (at) Harvard; Faculty Codirector, Berkman Center for Internet & Society,

Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

We are especially grateful for the exceptional collaboration of MART, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy,

and Poste Italiane.

1 | Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe

Press Images

Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the UniverseFebruary 21–september 1, 2014solomon r. guggenheim museum

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Giacomo BallaThe Hand of the Violinist (The Rhythms of the Bow) (La mano del violinista [I ritmi dell’archetto]), 1912Oil on canvas, 56 x 78.3 cmEstorick Collection, London© 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome

Umberto BoccioniElasticity (Elasticità), 1912Oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cmMuseo del Novecento, Milan© Museo del Novecento, Comune di Milano (all legal rights reserved)Photo: Luca Carrà

2 | Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe

Luigi Russolo“The Art of Noises: Futurist Manifesto” (“L’arte dei rumori: Manifesto futurista”)Leaflet (Milan: Direzione del Movimento Futurista, 1913), 29.2 x 23 cmWolfsoniana - Fondazione regionale per la Cultura e lo Spettacolo, GenoaBy permission of heirs of the artistPhoto: Courtesy Wolfsoniana - Fondazione regionale per la Cultura e lo Spettacolo, Genoa

Carlo CarràInterventionist Demonstration (Manifestazione Interventista), 1914Tempera, pen, mica powder, paper glued on cardboard, 38.5 x 30 cmGianni Mattioli Collection, on long-term loan to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice© 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomePhoto: Courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York

Giacomo BallaAbstract Speed + Sound (Velocità astratta + rumore), 1913–14Oil on unvarnished millboard in artist’s painted frame, 54.5 x 76.5 cmThe Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice 76.2553.31© 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomePhoto: Courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York

Umberto BoccioniUnique Forms of Continuity in Space (Forme uniche della continuità nello spazio), 1913 (cast 1949)Bronze, 121.3 x 88.9 x 40 cmThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Lydia Winston Malbin, 1989© The Metropolitan Museum of ArtImage Source: Art Resource, New York

3 | Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe

Fortunato DeperoHeart Eaters (Mangiatori di cuori), 1923Painted wood, 36.5 x 23 x 10 cmPrivate collection© 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomePhoto: Vittorio Calore

Ivo PannaggiSpeeding Train (Treno in corsa), 1922Oil on canvas, 100 x 120 cmFondazione Carima–Museo Palazzo Ricci, Macerata, ItalyPhoto: Courtesy Fondazione Cassa di risparmio della Provincia di Macerata

Francesco CangiulloLarge Crowd in the Piazza del Popolo (Grande folla in Piazza del Popolo), 1914Watercolor, gouache, and pencil on paper, 58 x 74 cmPrivate collection © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome

Fortunato DeperoLittle Black and White Devils, Dance of Devils (Diavoletti neri e bianchi, Danza di diavoli), 1922–23Pieced wool on cotton backing, 184 x 181 cmMART, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy© 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomePhoto: © MART, Archivio fotografico

4 | Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe

Bruno Munari and Torido MazzottiAntipasti Service (Piatti Servizio Antipasti), 1929–1930Glazed earthenware (manufactured by Casa Giuseppe Mazzotti, Albisola Marina), six plates: 21.6 cm diameter each; one vase: 11.7 × 7.6 cmThe Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection© Bruno Munari, courtesy Corraini EdizioniPhoto: Lynton Gardiner

Enrico Prampolini and Maria Ricotti, with cover by Enrico PrampoliniProgram for the Theater of Futurist Pantomime (Théâtre de la Pantomine Futuriste)Illustrated leaflet (Paris: M. et J. De Brunn, 1927), 27.5 x 22.7 cmFonds Alberto Sartoris, Archives de la Construction Moderne–Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), SwitzerlandBy permission of heirs of the artistPhoto: Jean-Daniel Chavan

Filippo MasoeroDescending over Saint Peter (Scendendo su San Pietro), ca. 1927–37 (possibly 1930–33)Gelatin silver print, 24 x 31.5 cmTouring Club Italiano Archive

Mino Somenzi, ed., with words-in-freedom image Airplanes (Aeroplani) by Pino MasnataFuturismo 2, no. 32 (Apr. 16, 1933)Journal (Rome, 1933), 64 x 44 cmFonds Alberto Sartoris, Archives de la Construction Moderne–Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), SwitzerlandPhoto: Jean-Daniel Chavan

5 | Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe

Benedetta (Cappa Marinetti)Synthesis of Aerial Communications (Sintesi delle comunicazioni aeree), 1933–34Tempera and encaustic on canvas, 324.5 x 199 cmIl Palazzo delle Poste di Palermo, Sicily, Poste Italiane© Benedetta Cappa Marinetti, used by permission of Vittoria Marinetti and Luce Marinetti’s heirsPhoto: AGR/Riccardi/Paoloni

Gerardo DottoriCimino Home Dining Room Set (Sala da pranzo di casa Cimino), early 1930sTable, chairs, buffet, lamp, and sideboard; wood, glass, crystal, copper with chrome plating, leather, dimensions variablePrivate collection© 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomePhoto: Daniele Paparelli, Courtesy Archivi Gerardo Dottori, Perugia, Italy

Tullio CraliBefore the Parachute Opens (Prima che si apra il paracadute), 1939Oil on panel, 141 x 151 cmCasa Cavazzini, Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Udine, Italy© 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomePhoto: Claudio Marcon, Udine, Civici Musei e Gallerie di Storia e Arte