Fortunato Depero ‘S Theatrical Experiments Of The 1910s

Abstract Fortunato Depero (1892-1960) arrived in Rome in December 1913. He was 21, penniless, and had been attracted to the capital by the news circulating in his hometown about the Futurist renewal of Italian culture. He was born in Fondo in the Trentino and grew up in Rovereto, a small town then belonging to the Austro-Hungarian empire. His education had been mitteleuropean in outlook, and his first artistic attempts in the fields of literature and drawing followed the models of Jugendstil, Art Nouveau, and Symbolism. After failing the entrance exam at the Academy of Arts in Vienna, Depero took up an apprenticeship with a local sculptor and worked part-time for a decorator.1 However, carving tombstones and moulding gypsum cornices did not satisfy his artistic ambition, which had been spurred by the Vienna Secession painters and the angst-ridden illustrations of Alfred Kubin. His second public exhibition, held in February 1913 in a local stationery shop, presented a collection of ‘grotesque art ‘2 made up of gruesome portraits, deformed figures, and gargoyle-like caricatures. In June 1913 he published a slim volume, Spezzature, which contained examples of his own poetry and prose, accom-panied by rather bizarre illustrations. Alto Adige used the term ‘Futurist ‘3 to characterize the pieces that evoked big-city life (e.g. ‘Impressioneritmica ‘) or expressed Depero ‘s ‘forceful impetus towards the Infinite ‘, his ‘vast dreams of impossible greatness ‘, and his desire for a ‘life of violence ‘. Passamani believes that some of the verses were directly inspired by the anthology I poetifuturisti, published in 1912 by the Edizioni futuriste di ‘Poesia ‘. Scudiero has since discovered a correspondence between Marinetti and the Rovereto journalist and poet Sottochiesa and has suggested that the latter ‘s collection of poems, La nova voce (Rovereto: Tipografia Grandi, 1912), had had a stimulating influence on Depero.