FORTUNATO DEPERO

ITALIAN ( 1892 - 1960 )

Fortunato Depero (March 30, 1892 – November 29, 1960) was an Italian futurist painter, writer, sculptor and graphic designer. Although born in Fondo or in the neighboring village of Malosco, according to other sources (in the Italian Trentino region), Depero grew up in Rovereto and it was here he first began exhibiting his works, while serving as an apprentice to a marble worker. It was on a 1913 trip to Florence that he discovered a copy of the paper Lacerba and an article by one of the founders of the futurism movement, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Depero was inspired, and 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 Depero founded the Casa d'Arte Futurista (House of Futurist Art) in Rovereto, which specialised 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. In 1927 he created for the publisher Dinamo-Azari of Milan one of his most famous objects--the so-called bolted book entitled Depero futurista to celebrate the fourteenth anniversary of Futurism. 1928 saw Depero move to New York City, where he experienced a degree of success, doing costumes for stage productions and designing covers for magazines including MovieMaker, 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 23rd Street. In 1930 he returned to Italy.