Customer Reviews (1)

Depero Futurista & New York
It is not easy to find books written by or about Fortunato Depero,
the Italian Futurist that, in my belief, has not been given more
credit for his full-on push to bring Futurism into America.
He came to America, not knowing English and he spoke with the perfection
of his work.He also did something many artists at that time were
afraid to do and that was to lend his work to advertising.In the
early twenties, his work was used by Vanity Fair,Vogue,Campari and others.
He set up shop in New York and with enthusiasm and belief in his style
of Futurism hit the New York advertising community and was accepted.
This book shows several black and white drawings and the underbelly
construction it took to make his designs.There are also color reproductions in
other fields he worked in, like theatre and his large whimsical Futuristic
paintings.I have found three books on his style, which hold ideas for me
in the 21st century.His color is invigorating and his characters are so
well thought -out, they bring joy and when I first saw his work, I knew I
had a teacher. Lots of B & W reproductions, and some color, but the work
he did until his death in 1960 is as fresh in 2008. I use this book often.
It is worth it,especially if you are an illustrator. Italian and English. ... Read more

Product Description
This publication presents an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective on Futurism in a variety of countries and artistic media. Nineteen internationally renowned scholars discuss up-to-date information on how the Futurist movement, founded by the Italian poet F.T. Marinetti in 1909, shaped the concept of a cultural avant-garde and how it influenced the development of a modernist art and literature around the world. Thereby the volume is expected to serve as a handbook of Futurism in the arts and literature.

Each essay contains a general introduction to the medium or country under discussion and reviews recent research undertaken by the author and other specialists in the field. The final section contains a comprehensive reference bibliography of primary and secondary sources related to Futurism in all countries and media covered by the volume. ... Read more

Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1961Original Publisher: Philosophical LibrarySubjects: Futurism (Art)Futurism (Literary movement)Social Science / Future StudiesArt / GeneralArt / CriticismArt / History / GeneralArt / History / Modern (late 19th Century to 1945)Social Science / Future StudiesNotes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free.Excerpt: Chapter 1REVOLT AGAINST THE PASTOf all the movements that characterized the changing life of Italy at the beginning of the century none was more boisterous, more pretentious, more active than the one called "Futurism."The Futurist movement owed its existence and much of its vogue to Marinetti, that spectacular figure, that brilliant chameleon, whose life was a series of transformations and whose actions were the fruitful results of ever renewed contradictions: a successful organizer, yet lacking the qualities deemed necessary for practical undertakings; a poet of undoubted merit with an intense passion for science; a rebel who, in the name of Liberty, forced upon art the cult of the tenth Muse, the goddess of Speed; a cosmopolitan of semi- Levantine origin and Parisian upbringing who became the corybant of Italian nationalism; a nationalist whose love for Italy took the form of a violent dislike for everything that may be called Italian; a sworn destroyer of all Academies, yet one of the founders of the Accademia d'ltalia. These contradictions, as we shall see, had a notable effect on the development of Futurism.The movement started briskly and violently with the publication of the first Manifesto in Figaro on February 20, 1909. This document, so frequently quoted and derided, seemed at first nothing more than the ravings of a ... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Extremely Stimulating and Worth Purchasing, But Not Flawless
I have probably read over a hundred books on artistic photography, and this is the most inspiring in terms of my personal development as a photographer.Still, it has some imperfections.Here are the pluses and minuses.

Pluses:First, the book (which accompanied a 2001 exhibition at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in London) packs a lot of good information.The core chapters include "The Image of Self," "Photodynamism," "Photo-Performance," "The Twenties," and "The Thirties."Toward the end of the book are biographies and a bibliography. The extensive coverage of Anton Giulio Bragaglia and Arturo Bragaglia was appropriate since the brothers were important in the history of photography.I had never heard of Tato (Guglielmo Sansoni), but he was clearly a major talent.

Second, the book is striking in design.The black-and-white photographs from 1909-1939 are beautifully reproduced.Each chapter begins with jumbled typography (even more radical than the cover) that matches the overall modernity of Futurists.Even the front and back covers and flaps of this signature-bound book are stylish.

Minuses:First, although the author is well known as an expert on Futurism, his text is abstruse.Consider this sentence on page 10: "By translating the infrasensorial and metaperceptive dimensions for the first time... photography seemed to penetrate the very mystery of life."I am not certain if the problem is the original text or the translation from the Italian.

Second, I felt there was too much emphasis on Fortunato Depero.He was certainly an important Futurist figure, and his self-portraits seem to be precursors of works by photographers such as Cindy Sherman and Nikki S. Lee.Nevertheless, I do not feel that the inclusion of 14 photographs/details by him (including self-portraits) and 18 other photographs OF him was a good use of space.I would have liked to see more works by artists such as Maggiorino Gramaglia, Edmund Kesting, and Wanda Wulz, whose photos are more visually intriguing than Depero's.

Finally, although the author puts the Futurist photographers in the broader context of Italian Futurists such as Marinetti and Azari, the book would have been stronger if he had compared in more detail Futurist photographers with contemporaries such as Alvin Langdon Coburn, John Heartfield, Man Ray, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Alexander Rodchenko.Another set of comparisons could have involved "avant-garde" photographers who came before and after the Futurists.Perhaps a couple pages of text and images could have been devoted to the relationships of non-Futurist and Futurist photographers.

All things taken into consideration, I have put this book in a prominent place in my library and will be referring to it frequently.Buy it from Amazon.com! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Cubism, Futurism and Constructivism, contains color photographs of the the paintings and an enthusiastic essay on this art
This book describes the genesis of Cubism, Futurism and Constructivism. The author presents the history of these isms in a way that is very readable. He presents not only the history of this art but also asides about how the artists felt about each other and emphasizes that Futurism was a reaction against Cubism and Constructivism a reaction against Futurism. These artists were not just reacting against the academic art of the time known as Academicism. However, the fact that they were united in their opposition to Academic Art, is shown by the artists themselves who would refer to their predecessors, when angry with them, as academicists. I feel that the author did a good job in describing the ideas behind each period of art. For example he shows some of the ideas the artists had, such as the Futurist emphasis on movement; "Nude Descending a Staircase" by Duchamp, which is pictured, in color, is a very good example of this preoccupation. The author gives glimpses into the artist's struggle to realize their ambitions as laid out in their frequently written manifestos. I found this to be the most interesting aspect of the book; as an aspiring artist myself, their alternate frustrations and eventual success rang a bell with me and gave me hope for my own work. If you happen to see this book at a used book store I recommend picking it up, you will not regret it. ... Read more

Product Description
Publisher: Berlin, J. SpringerPublication date: 1922Subjects: Civilization, OrientalRace relationsAsiaIndia -- Politics and government 1919-1947China -- Politics and government 20th centuryNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Another Slap in the Face of Public taste!
Elena Guro, velimir Khlebnikov, Nikolai & David Burlyuk, Osip Brik, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Evgeny Zamayatin, Boris Pasternak, & several other Russian Futurians (in exact contradistinction to their alien Italian counter-productives) championing "ZAUM" (Trans-Rational poetics, pronounced "Za-oom") grace this compilation; and at over 400 pages with about 50 priceless photos & illustrations, this is simply the best translated and most complete anthology of Russian Futurism ever compiled. Both Proffers'are heroes, they established the legendary ARDIS press decades ago, which has done for Russian Literature what Dedalus Press does for English translated Decadent & Symbolist Lit., Atlas Press does for German Expressionist & experimental Lit., and Exact Change Press does for late 19th-early 20th cen. Lit....etcetera. It's nothing less than criminal such compilations as this, labours of fantastic love affairs, to be out of print; No less tragic that ARDIS Press is in agonized death throes, and's going out of "the business of healing words", with little or no funereal wake besides a few congregated lovers of Russian Lit. that have subscribed to their unequalled dedicated genius for having birthed such exemplary tomes as their ANTHOLOGY OF RUSSIAN FUTURISM.
"It's been Mayakovsky Street for thousands of years: he who shot himself here at the door of his beloved." Such did Mayakovsky pen these prophetic stanzas in one of this book's greatest contributions: the autobio poem "A Man". here is KHLEBNIKOV, The King Of Time with his blaring Trumpet of the Martians calling all poets to arm themselves with divine laughter and mousetraps to catch the dirty politicians of today as well as Russia in the 1920's, perhaps the most experimentally rich era in ALL literary history, which several ARDIS ANTHOLOGY'S explore in a manner befitting of the Artists Lives & works; divulged fully no matter how intellectually bloody such a feat may be when the assassin's knives, previously buried to the hilt in history's back almost a century ago are drawn from old swollen wounds...Poetry's life blood drenches these pages, especially the first half of the book, as the second part covers their aesthetics and philosophy, a treasure-trove for the historian and academians. The reader is privvy to rare photos of Khlebnikov wearing a basket for a hat; Mayakovsky dressed in his yellow dress fitted with pistols and topped off with his immense witch-hat, which is how he comported himself in those revolutionary days; Futurist assemblies with animals etched on their cheeks in true Indian war-paint tradition; Filonov's cosmic paintings in constant cellular metamorphosis; the legendary books themselves which the Futurists ressurected in beautiful hand-crafted editions. And of course their writings, often making more famous surreal and dada works seem merely complimentary as far as experimental improv. and breadth of vision is concerned. In short, the book is worth hunting for, and any unbounded Love shown unearthing it I would consider justifiable homicide; any other ARDIS antho. such as "Russian Lit. in the 1920's", which is readily had here in this webbed site, are vast pyramids & literary sphinxes buried in unguarded advanced sands, and I would hail them from this Amazonian encampment as loud as my screams could carry... ... Read more

Product Description
Futurism was one of the most significant and influential developments in the arts of the early 20th century. This major new study of its literary aspects analyzes the main achievements of Futurist writers--mainly German, Russian, and Italian--and attempts to see them, as the Futurists themselves could not, in the context of an evolving avant garde. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1913.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more