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MANILA, Philippines - Who is this Italian painter, writer, sculptor and graphic designer who was instrumental in the Futurist movement?
He grew up in Rovereto, Italy where he first began exhibiting his works, while serving as an apprentice to a marble worker.
In 1914 moved to Rome and met fellow futurist Giacomo Balla. It was with Balla in 1915 that he wrote the manifesto “Ricostruzione futurista dell’universo” (“Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe”) which expanded upon the ideas introduced by the other futurists. In the same year he was designing stage sets and costumes for a ballet.
In 1919 he founded the Casa d’Arte Futurista (House of Futurist Art) in Rovereto, which specialized in producing toys, tapestries and furniture in the futurist style. In 1925 he represented the futurists at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts).
In1928 he moved to New York, where he experienced a degree of success, doing costumes for stage productions and designing covers for magazines including Movie Maker, The New Yorker and Vogue, among others. He also dabbled in interior design during his stay, working on two restaurants, which were later demolished to make way for the Rockefeller Center. He also did work for the New York Daily News and Macy’s, and built a house on West 23rd Street.
In the 1930s and ‘40s he continued working, although due to futurism being linked with fascism, the movement started to wane. The artistic development of the movement in this period can mostly attributed to him and Balla. One of the projects he was involved in during this time was Dinamo magazine, which he founded and directed. After the end of the Second World War he decided to try New York again. One of his achievements on his second stay in the United States was the publication of So I Think, So I Paint, a translation of his autobiography initially released in 1940. From the winter of 1947 to late October 1949 he lived in a cottage in New Milford, Connecticut.
On Nov. 29, 1960, after being ill with diabetes he died age 68.
Many of his works are featured in the permanent collection of the Mart, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto.
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Last week’s question: Who is the eminent 20th century American architect who was a mover in rebuilding San Francisco after the Great Earthquake in 1906?
Answer: Willis Jefferson Polk
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