Fortunato Depero and Depero futurista 1913–1927 Gianluca Camillini Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Typography & Graphic Communication April 2020 Declaration: I confirm that this is my own work and the use of all material from other sources has been properly and fully acknowledged. Gianluca Camillini Abstract Fortunato Depero and Depero futurista 1913–1927 Gianluca Camillini Department of Typography & Graphic Communication - University of Reading April 2020 This thesis examines Depero futurista 1913–1927, the so-called ‘bolted book’ created in 1927 by Futurist artist Fortunato Depero (1892-1960). Although Depero and his book have already been the subject of artistic re-evaluation, the literature relating to this work neglects a number of key aspects pertaining to the figure of the artist, still failing to provide a detailed account of Depero futurista 1913–1927. In order to address these gaps, this study is divided into two distinct parts: the first, composed of chapters 2, 3 and 4, takes an analytical approach intended to give a detailed description of the book and its context. Chapter 2 examines the graphic and artistic context in order to understand the circumstances in which Depero futurista 1913–1927 was published. Chapter 3 analyses Depero’s correspondence with the publisher Azari and the professional relationship between Depero and the Mercurio printing works, in order to understand the design methodologies adopted by Depero during the process of creating the book. In chapter 4, the analysis moves onto the book as an object, focusing on its content and formal features – its structure, layout and typefaces. The second part of this research, comprising chapters 5, 6 and 7, uses Depero futurista 1913–1927 as an index from which to extrapolate areas of research related to Fortunato Depero, highlighting pages that refer to certain themes and presenting critical discussion of them. Chapter 5 analyses the political context in which the book was created and how it is inextricably linked with the institutions of the Italian Fascist regime. Given Depero futurista 1913–1927’s function as a self-promotional tool, chapter 6 examines Fortunato Depero’s interest in the field of advertising. Finally, chapter 7 reflects on Depero futurista 1913–1927 as a particular kind of book object and the extent to which it can be considered a work of art in terms of the discourse on artists’ books. Fortunato Depero and Depero futurista 1913–1927 Table of contents A note about translations, captions and references xi 1 Introduction 12 1.1 Current interest in Depero futurista 1913–1927 13 1.2 An identified gap in historical knowledge 15 1.3 Inadequacies of initial narratives of Futurism and the emergence of new accounts 17 1.4 The emergence of a critical shift 18 1.4.1 The implications of this critical shift 20 1.5 Bringing Depero’s work to the forefront 22 1.6 Re-evaluating Depero futurista 1913–1927 24 1.7 Organisation of the thesis 25 1.7.1 Context and object 26 1.7.2 Indexical analysis and interpretation 26 Part 1: Analysis of context and object 2 Graphic and artistic context 30 2.1 Stéphane Mallarmé’s precedent 31 2.2 Futurism, Marinetti and Futurist publishing 34 2.2.1 The Futurist manifestos 34 2.2.2 Futurist magazines 46 2.2.2.1 Lacerba 47 2.2.2.2 La Balza Futurista 48 2.2.2.3 L'Italia Futurista 49 2.2.2.4 Noi 49 2.2.2.5 Dinamo 51 2.3 Other avant-gardes and typographical movements and their exponents 51 2.3.1 Apollinaire and the calligrammes 51 2.3.2 Russian Futurism 55 2.3.3 Typographical Modernism and New Typography: from El Lissitzky to the Bauhaus and Jan Tschichold 59 3 Design and production, as deduced from Depero’s correspondence in the Archivio del ’900 71 3.1 Analysis of Azari and Depero’s correspondence about Depero futurista 1913–1927 71 3.1.1 Technical aspects of the book’s production process 71 3.1.2 The nature of Azari and Depero’s collaboration 79 3.2 Depero and the Mercurio printing works of Ferruccio Zamboni 88 4 Analysis of the structure and pages of the Depero futurista 1913–1927 92 4.1 Content structure of the book 93 4.2 The layout structure of the pages 100 4.2.1 Typefaces 103 4.3 Structure and layout 104 4.3.1 Statement pages 104 4.3.1.1 Presentation page 104 4.3.1.2 Announcement of the launch of Dinamo-Azari 104 4.3.1.3 I Set Off hist Futurist Creation as Sign of Celebration for F. T. Marinetti 106 4.3.1.4 Futurist movement 108 4.3.1.5 Azari and Depero Leave for an Artistic Discussion at an Altitude of 5000 Metres 110 4.3.1.6 Typographical compositions 110 4.3.1.7 Collection of articles on Depero’s work 110 4.3.2 Manifesto pages 113 4.3.2.1 Fortunato Depero: Autobiographical Summary 113 4.3.2.2 Depero Glorified by Marinetti 115 4.3.2.3 Plastic Art of Today 117 4.3.2.4 The Immortal Futurism 117 4.3.2.5 The Fantastic New 120 4.3.2.6 Advertising Architecture 120 4.3.2.7 Book Pavilion (Typographical Architecture) 122 4.3.2.8 Magic Theatre 124 4.3.2.9 Onomalanguage 126 4.3.2.10 Abstract Verbalization of Lady 126 4.3.2.11 Tramvai 129 4.3.2.12 SiiO VLUMMIA - Torrente 129 4.4 Summary observations on the pages of Depero futurista 1913–1927 130 Part 2: Indexical analysis and interpretation 5 Fortunato Depero’s political involvement and the artwork he produced for the Italian Fascist Party 136 5.1 Futurism and Fascism: negotiating the art-politics relationship 139 5.2 Fortunato Depero’s relationship with Fascism 147 5.2.1 Between necessity and ideology: Depero’s report on his artistic relations with Fascism (1945) 147 5.2.2 Tension between urban and rural identities 156 5.2.3 From mechanical splendour to metallic style 159 5.2.4 From metal to steel style 162 5.2.5 The aestheticisation of politics and steel style in Depero’s illustrations for politicised magazines 168 5.2.6 Depero’s illustrations for Fascism: the ONB (Opera Nazionale Balilla) and the OND (Opera Nazionale del Dopolavoro) 179 5.3 Embracing of the Fascist cause: between convenience and ideology 181 6 Fortunato Depero and advertising art 189 6.1 Futurist interest in advertising: art, politics and mass appeal 190 6.2 The need for self-advertisement as self-promotion 196 6.3 Depero’s commercial advertising work 198 6.3.1 Depero-Azari, an unbreakable partnership 201 6.3.2 Advertising theory 203 6.3.3 Advertising (in/as) practice 205 6.3.3.1 Campari 205 6.3.3.1.1 Combining practice and theory: Numero Unico Futurista Campari 211 6.3.3.2 Depero's work for Verzocchi brick manufacturer 215 6.3.3.3 Depero for U.N.I.C.A. 217 6.3.3.4 Depero for S. Pellegrino and Liquore Strega 219 6.3.3.5 Depero for American Lead Pencil 219 6.3.3.6 Depero for Sani and Buxus 221 6.4 Fortunato Depero, Depero futurista 1913–1927 and advertising art 223 7 Depero futurista 1913–1927 and the artist’s book 230 7.1 Depero futurista 1913–1927, art book and artist’s book 236 7.1.1 Authorship 237 7.1.2 Construction 237 7.1.3 Positioning art in ‘non-art’ contexts 238 7.1.4 An exhibition 241 7.1.5 A documentary record 243 7.2 Historical accounts of Depero futurista 1913–1927 as an artists’ book 245 7.2.1 Different accounts of Depero futurista 1913–1927 as an artists’ book 245 7.2.2 What Depero futurista 1913–1927 is and what it is not 247 7.3 Publications that show similarities to Depero futurista 1913–1927 (or which were influenced by it) 250 7.3.1 Biting, explosive and illuminating books 250 7.3.1.1 Litolatte (Litho-tins) 250 7.3.1.2 Metal books 255 7.3.1.2.1 Other bolted books 258 8 Conclusion 264 Bibliography 271 Acknowledgements A note about translations, captions and references All translations from Italian, German and French are my own, unless otherwise indicated. When the subject of an illustration is not credited, it is by Fortunato Depero. The majority of the archive materials referenced in this text are from the Archivio del ’900 at MART - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto. Here, the cataloguing uses alphanumeric shelf marks attached directly to the archive materials (or the files that contain them): the first three letters followed by a point, usually the first letters of the author’s surname, indicate the name of the collection, in my case Dep.1 This is followed by progressive numbers separated by points to distinguish the levels of description: series, Dep.3, sub-series, Dep.3.1, file, Dep.3.1.7, and document unit, Dep.3.1.7.1. The greater the level of description, the more numbers appear in the shelf mark. The eight series of the Depero archive are divided into: Documents and personal papers (Dep.1) which describe the events of his life; Dizionario ideologico ed autobiografico (Ideological and Autobiographical Dictionary - Dep.2);2 Correspondence (Dep.3); Writings (Dep.4); Documentation for professional projects (Dep.5); Collections of graphic materials and documents (Dep.6) which include both documents relating to his publications and drafts of his works ‘underlining the indissoluble association between the artistic sphere and the more strictly archival sphere of the legacy of the artist, who was the first one not to distinguish between the two’;3 Photographic material (Dep.7) used to document his artistic activities; Press materials (Dep.8) relating to press articles on his career and interests.4 Materials conserved in other institutions use their own cataloguing systems, for example the Getty Research Institute uses a singular progressive number for each archive unit.