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Tato (Guglielmo Sansoni), Flying over the Coliseum in a Spiral (Spiraling) (Sorvolando in spirale il Colosseo [Spiralata]), 1930 (detail)Tato (Guglielmo Sansoni), Flying over the Coliseum in a Spiral (Spiraling) (Sorvolando in spirale il Colosseo [Spiralata]), 1930. Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm. Ventura Collection, Rome. Photo: Corrado De Grazia -
Giacomo Balla, Balbo and the Italian Transatlantic Flyers (Celestial Metallic Airplane) (Balbo e i trasvolatori italiani [Celeste metallico aeroplano]), 1931 (detail)Giacomo Balla, Balbo and the Italian Transatlantic Flyers (Celestial Metallic Airplane) (Balbo e i trasvolatori italiani [Celeste metallico aeroplano]), 1931. Oil on panel, 280 x 150 cm. Museo Storico dell’Aeronautica Militare, Rome © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: Massimo NapoliBalbo and the Italian Transatlantic Flyers
Italo Balbo’s daredevil aerial achievements earned him a fame in Italy that rivaled that of Benito Mussolini. Balbo, a major Fascist figure, became head of the Italian air force in the late 1920s. He led two historic transatlantic crossings with multiple airplanes: the first to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1930–31 and the second to Chicago for the World’s Fair in 1933. Giacomo Balla’s monumental image commemorating the first crossing reflects the fanfare and enthusiasm these events inspired. Hydroplanes fly in formation through stylized fasci in a composition dominated by the colors of the Italian flag and the “celestial” blue of the skies. Borrowing the scale and spirit of history painting, this nationalistic canvas celebrates one of Italy’s major successes on the world stage and underscores the country’s preeminence in aviation in the 1930s.
The Futurist cult of the machine shifted focus from the automobile to the airplane in the 1930s, in the wake of Italy’s newly proven success in aviation and daring flights that captured the public imagination, such as Italo Balbo’s transatlantic crossings. Aeropittura, a style formally announced in the 1931 “Manifesto of Aeropittura,” represented a new mode of painting that united the Futurists’ passions for battle, flight, machines, and patriotism, and gave them the opportunity to explore dizzying aerial perspectives. Tullio Crali’s Before the Parachute Opens, which depicts a geometric landscape from above in realist terms, represents one of many artistic interpretations of Futurist aeropittura.
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Osvaldo Peruzzi, Aeropittura (Aeropittura), ca. 1934 (detail)Osvaldo Peruzzi, Aeropittura (Aeropittura), ca. 1934. Oil on corrugated board, 64.5 x 80.5 cm. Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale. Archivio Fotografico Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale. Photo: © Roma Capitale -
Tullio Crali, Upside Down Loop (Death Loop) (Granvolta rovesciata [Giro della morte]), 1938 (detail)Tullio Crali, Upside Down Loop (Death Loop) (Granvolta rovesciata [Giro della morte]), 1938. Oil on panel, 80 x 60 cm. Collection of Luce Marinetti, Rome © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: Studio Boys, Rome -
Tullio Crali, Before the Parachute Opens (Prima che si apra il paracadute), 1939 (detail)Tullio Crali, Before the Parachute Opens (Prima che si apra il paracadute), 1939. Oil on panel, 141 x 151 cm. Casa Cavazzini, Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Udine, Italy © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: Claudio Marcon, Udine, Civici Musei e Gallerie di Storia e Arte -
Gerardo Dottori, Aerial Battle over the Gulf of Naples or Infernal Battle over the Paradise of the Gulf (Battaglia aerea sul Golfo di Napoli or Inferno di battaglia sul paradiso del golfo), 1942 (detail)Gerardo Dottori, Aerial Battle over the Gulf of Naples or Infernal Battle over the Paradise of the Gulf (Battaglia aerea sul Golfo di Napoli or Inferno di battaglia sul paradiso del golfo), 1942. Oil on plywood panel, 187 x 131 cm. Private collection © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: Luca Carrà
The swirling, sometimes abstracted, aerial imagery of Futurism’s final incarnation, aeropittura (painting inspired by flight), arrived by the 1930s. Aeropittura emerged from the Futurists’ interest in modern aircraft and photographic technologies. Propelled by Italy’s military preeminence in aviation, their fascination with the machine shifted focus from the automobile to the airplane. In flight the artists found disorienting points of view and new iconographies to explore in painting, photography, and other mediums.
Evidenced by the work of Tullio Crali, Gerardo Dottori, and Tato, aeropittura represented a novel painting approach that allowed the Futurists to address nationalism, speed, technology, and war, providing radical perspectives that exalted these concepts. Benito Mussolini equated his Fascist regime with the Roman Empire at its peak; not coincidentally, many artworks from the 1930s incorporated imagery from Roman antiquity. Tato’s Flying over the Coliseum in a Spiral (Spiraling) (1930) depicts an airplane soaring over an iconic Italian structure, the circles of the plane’s path echoing the ancient building’s form. The Futurists’ engagement with the aerial quickly expanded beyond painting to other fields, including ceramics, dance, and experimental photography.