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Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero, “Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe” (“Ricostruzione futurista dell’universo”). Leaflet (Milan: Direzione del Movimento Futurista, 1915) (detail)Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero, “Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe” (“Ricostruzione futurista dell’universo”). Leaflet (Milan: Direzione del Movimento Futurista, 1915), 29.2 × 23 cm. Wolfsoniana–Fondazione regionale per la Cultura e lo Spettacolo, Genoa © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: Courtesy Wolfsoniana–Fondazione regionale per la Cultura e lo Spettacolo, Genoa -
Giacomo Balla, Design for teapot for tea set (Modello di teiera per servizio da thè), 1916 (detail)Giacomo Balla, Design for teapot for tea set (Modello di teiera per servizio da thè), 1916. Pencil, watercolor, and ink, 19 x 29.1 cm. GAM, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: Courtesy Fondazione Torino Musei -
Fortunato Depero, Little Black and White Devils, Dance of Devils (Diavoletti neri e bianchi, Danza di diavoli), 1922–23 (detail)Fortunato Depero, Little Black and White Devils, Dance of Devils (Diavoletti neri e bianchi, Danza di diavoli), 1922–23. Pieced wool on cotton backing, 184 × 181 cm. MART, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: © MART, Archivio Fotografico -
Fortunato Depero, Depero’s Futurist Waistcoat (Panciotto futurista di Depero), 1923 (detail)Fortunato Depero, Depero’s Futurist Waistcoat (Panciotto futurista di Depero), 1923. Pieced wool on cotton backing, approximately 52 × 45 cm. Private collection © 2014. Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: Vittorio Calore -
Fortunato Depero, Series of 8 Rhinoceros (Serie di n. 8 rinoceronti), 1923 (remade detail)Fortunato Depero, Series of 8 Rhinoceros (Serie di n. 8 rinoceronti), 1923 (remade detail). Painted wood, 17 x 39 x 5 cm each. MART, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy, Provincia Autonoma di Trento © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: © MART, Archivio del ’900 -
Gerardo Dottori, Cimino home dining room set (Sala da pranzo di casa Cimino), early 1930s (detail)Gerardo Dottori, Cimino home dining room set (Sala da pranzo di casa Cimino), early 1930s. Table, chairs, buffet, sconces, lamp, sideboard; wood, glass, crystal, copper with chrome plating, leather, dimensions variable. Private collection © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome. Photo: Daniele PaparelliCimino Home Dining Room Set
The artist and designer Gerardo Dottori created this unique Futurist dining room on commission for the Cimino family in Rome. Dottori’s patron, Guido Cimino was a wealthy barrister and intellectual who was committed to the arts. The wood furniture borrows from Art Deco vocabulary, and the design features interrelated geometric forms. The sideboards’ doors incorporate leaded glass and their feet are of colored, faceted crystal. The decorative ensemble as a whole signals Dottori’s embrace of multiple mediums.
In 1915 Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero wrote the seminal manifesto “Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe.” Using characteristically aggressive language, they call for a reenvisioning of every aspect of the world, even demanding Futurist “toys.” These ideas fed the Futurist conception of the opera d’arte totale (total work of art), an ensemble that surrounds the viewer in a completely Futurist environment. Balla, Depero, and others soon put their ideas into practice, opening case d’arte (art houses) to market their decorative arts designs. Balla converted his home in Rome into a showroom of sorts, designing nearly everything in the residence. Depero established an artisanal studio in his native town of Rovereto. Balla made screens, which often shared concerns with his speed-related paintings, and other furniture. Both artists designed waistcoats that reflect the aesthetics of their paintings. Depero fashioned his brightly colored vests expressly for the Futurists to wear with their bourgeois suits to signal their radicalism. Balla conceived a coffee service (recalling his 1916 sketches for a tea set) that was produced in majolica in Faenza in 1928, and many other Futurists experimented with ceramics, especially in the 1930s. Some Futurist artists secured commissions to design elaborate interiors for homes, restaurants, and cabarets.