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Edited by
Günter Berghaus
Editorial Board
Matteo D’Ambrosio · Marjorie Perloff · Irina Subotić ·
Jorge Schwartz
Contributing Editors
Matteo Fochessati · Rubén Gallo ·
Przemysław Strożek · Pierantonio Zanotti
International Yearbook
of Futurism Studies
Volume 12
2022
Open Issue
Edited by
Günter Berghaus
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.
www.degruyter.com
Table of Contents
Günter Berghaus
Editorial IX
Giacomo Coronelli
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 3
Giuseppe Virelli
From Bologna to the World: The International Futurism of Athos
Casarini 51
Thomas Hunkeler
Parisian Rivalries before the War: Futurism and Cubism as Enemy Brothers
(1912 – 1914) 93
Günter Berghaus
Futurism in Occupied Fiume, 1919 – 1920 123
Monica Cioli
Italian Futurism between Fascism, Modernism and Nazi Germany 163
Eugene Ostashevsky
Vasily Kamensky and F. T. Marinetti: Italian Words-in-Freedom and Russian
Typographic Visual Poetry 189
Kasper Pfeifer
The Scream of the Boor: Bruno Jasieński and the Politics of Art in Polish
Futurism 225
Ricardo Vasconcelos
A Rêve onanistique: Futurism and Portuguese National Identity in Raul Leal’s
Correspondence with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti 247
VI Table of Contents
Irina Subotić
The 100th Anniversary of Zenit (1921 – 2021): Futurism and the Yugoslav
Avant-garde 349
Giuseppe Virelli
Aroldo Bonzagni and His (almost) Futurist Epoch 367
Ekaterina Lazareva
Italian Futurism in the Gianni Mattioli Collection Presented in Russia
(2021) 375
Luigi Weber
The Futurist Novel before and After the First World War 399
Monica Biasiolo
Paolo Buzzi and the Futurist chiaro di luna 405
Deirdre O’Grady
Gian Pietro Lucini in Context: Futurism and the Pursuit of a New
‘Avant-garde’ 413
Stephen J. Bury
Fortunato Depero’s ‘Bolted Book’ 419
Maddalena Carli
The Permanent Revolution of Fascist Art 433
Renée M. Silverman
Space, Geography and Centre-Periphery Relations: New Perspectives on
Ultraism and Estridentism, 1918 – 1927 439
Günter Berghaus
Ilya Zdanevich (Iliazd): Ambassador of Georgian Futurism 445
Section 4: Bibliography
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110800920-001
X Günter Berghaus
The next two essays examine a broad spectrum of political issues related to
the Futurist movement in Italy. Günter Berghaus investigated twenty-five years
ago the Futurist activities in Fiume (Rijeka) during the city’s occupation by Ga-
briele D’Annunzio’s troops (1919 – 1920) in his book Futurism and Politics (1996),
largely by drawing on documents preserved in Italian archives and librararies.
Since then, he has repeatedly travelled to Croatia to inspect source material in
institutions that only opened up to Western scholars after the fall of the Iron Cur-
tain and the dissolution of the State of Yugoslavia. His essay Futurism in Occu-
pied Fiume, 1919 – 1920 was written to mark the centennial of the annexation of
Fiume to Italy in 1919. But it also incorporates insights gained during the anni-
versary year when, on the one hand, right-wing circles in Italy proclaimed their
revisionist and Irredentist agenda for the former Austrian Littoral, and on the
other hand, Croatian scholars and politicians reminded us of the fact that Rijeka,
the ‘Martyr City’, experienced in 1919 a veritable ‘holocaust’. He experienced first
hand how the impresa dannunziana gave rise to an anniversary that divided the
scholarly community at conferences. He could observe how ideological manipu-
lations of the historical events were spread by the media on both sides of the bor-
der. The essay that results from thirty years of studying the Futurist activities in
Fiume preceding, during and following Gabriele D’Annunzio’s occupation revis-
its established facts and presents new insights. It is well known that the Futurists
were at the forefront of the social and artistic experiments carried out in Fume.
The occupied city seemed to offer a model of how to build a new civilization on
the ruins of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman empires. The
essay presents the activities of the Fascio futurista fiumanese, outlines the vision-
ary concepts in Futurist manifestos and programmatic statements published in
Fiume and investigates to what degree these ideas could be given concrete real-
ization in festivals, social rituals and libertarian artistic creations. Although Ma-
rinetti only stayed a fortnight in Fiume, he was part of at least two plots to ex-
tend the Impresa to other parts of Italy by means of terrorist attacks, which
are discussed here, also with regard to their later literary metamorphoses in Il
poema di Fiume (c.1930 – 31).
Monica Cioli, an expert on contemporary history and the history of political
thought in Italy and Germany, focusses on Italian Futurism between Fascism,
Modernism and Nazi Germany on the Degenerate Art Exhibition, held in Mu-
nich in 1937, and its implications for Futurism. She discusses some of the Futurist
responses to the Nazi assault on modern art and to the reactionary forces in Fas-
cist Italy that sought to implement measures similar to those adopted in Germa-
ny in the mid-1930s. Cioli examines the cultural politics of the Third Reich as well
as Futurist attitudes towards German anti-Modernism after Hitler’s seizure of
XII Günter Berghaus
garde aesthetics and Vedic imagery gave rise to a hybrid heritage within a Euro-
Asian modernity.
Cedric Van Dijck offers in his essay Out of the Archive: Marinetti in Cam-
bridge (1914) a useful complement to Coronelli’s discussion of Marinetti’s prop-
aganda campaign in the English-speaking world by means of the broadsheet Fu-
turist Venice (July 1910), his Lecture to the English at the Lyceum Club in London
(13 December 1910) and the leaflet Manifesto of the Futurist Painters (probably
printed in August 1911). Much has been written on the Futurist activities in Lon-
don at the time of their Exhibition of Works by the Italian Futurist Painters there
(Sackville Gallery, March 1912) and the repercussions of Marinetti’s performances
at the Doré Galleries on 28 April and 13 June 1914. But even standard works fail to
mention that the Futurist leader also visited the University of Cambridge, no
doubt prompted by his concerted efforts to garnish the support and sympathies
of students, who in various countries proved to be the most enthusiastic support-
ers of the Futurist aesthetic and political progamme. On 3 June 1914, Marinett de-
livered a lecture on Futurism and recited, amongst other items, from his recent
manifesto Vital English Art and passages from his book Zang tumb tuuum. He
was then given an opportunity to promote his ideas in The Cambridge Magazine
(which printed Vital English Art on 13 June 1914), Mandragora (which printed ex-
cerpts from Zang tumb tuuum in May 1914). In the appendix, Van Dijck reprints
seven rare documents, including reports on Marinetti’s lecture and the animated
responses he received from the students.
In Section 2: Obituaries and anniversaries we have to report, as men-
tioned above, the sad fact that one of the most dependable members of our ed-
itorial team, Mariana Aguirre, died on 14 January 2022. Mariana had served as an
editorial assistant on the International Yearbook of Futurism Studies since 2013.
Over the years, she became a trusted collaborator, co-editing volumes and
each year taking on responsibility for essays that needed special attention
from a linguistic viewpoint. Since 2021, she had been active in the process of
co-editing a special issue of the Yearbook on the theme of Futurism and Primitiv-
ism. Mariana’s scholarly achievements and activities in the Mexican art scene are
remembered in an obituary written jointly by four of her colleagues from Mexico
and myself.
In the International Yearbook of Futurism Studies 5 (2015) we published a
portrayal of the International Academy of Zaum, founded in the Russian city
of Tambov in 1990. This loose network of poets and scholars promotes research
into avant-garde art in the widest sense of the word and gives encouragement to
anyone who considers the transrational poetry of Russian Futurism to be a
source of inspiration for producing innovative sound and visual poetry all
over the world. I asked its founder, Sergey Biryukov, to give us a personal ac-
Editorial XV
count of the growth and proliferation of this institution. His reminiscences are
complemented here by a brief homage written by Andrei Rossomakhin, editor-
in-chief of the Avant-Garde series published by the European University in
Saint Petersburg. This publishing venture has provided a platform for many
members of the Academy of Zaum, both as authors and members of the editorial
board, to promote the ethos and the achievements of a new generation of ‘beyon-
sense’ poets.
Irina Subotić, well known to readers of our yearbook from her insightful
essay on the similarities and differences between Futurism and Zenitism in the
first volume of our periodical in 2011, has been a major coordinator of events
in the centenary year of Zenit, a magazine published from 1921 to 1926 in Zagreb
and Belgrade. Created by Ljubomir Micić, it became the most influential period-
ical for the avant-garde in the Balkans. It promoted various artistic tendencies,
ranging from Expressionism and Dadaism to Futurism, Surrealism and Construc-
tivism. Zenitism was close to the second generation of Italian Futurists and their
ideas of dynamism, technological progress, machine art, typographic innovation
and primitivism. Both movements pursued a fervent crusade against a decadent,
conservative and moribund ‘old Europe’. Irina Subotić reports on a number of
events, conferences, exhibitions and publications that reflect our current knowl-
edge of the Zenitist movement, the magazine itself and its editor. The anniversary
demonstrated that the young generation in Serbia and Croatia can still find in-
spiration from the multifaceted activities organized or coordinated by the maga-
zine’s collaborators in the 1920s. As an extension of the Zenit jubilee, the city of
Novi Sad, upon becoming European Capital of Culture for 2022, presented on 13
January 2022 Zeniteum :: 2022, an open air show devised by the Slovenian artist
Dragan Živadinov. It took inspiration from a scenic architecture developed by
Micić and Jo Klek in 1924. We asked Dragan Živadinov and his partner Dunja Zu-
pančić to send us an artist’s statement, which we have attached to the report.
Section 3: Critical responses to exhibitions, conferences and publica-
tions is longer than usual, as it accommodates reports and reviews that were
originally considered for Yearbooks 2021 and 2023, but reached us either too
late or – rather unusually – before the agreed deadline. Mariateresa Chirico
gives us an account of the study day “Cesare Andreoni (1903 – 1961), a Futurist
in Milan” that was promoted by the Archivio Cesare Andreoni and held at the
headquarters of AitArt, the Italian Association of Artists’ Archives, on 28 Septem-
ber 2021. Giuseppe Virelli reviews an exhibition that provided a rare chance to
see a representative cross-selection of works by one of the founding members
of the first Futurist group in Milan, Aroldo Bonzagni. He discusses the painter’s
artistic choices that brought him into conflict with Boccioni and ponders the
question of why Bonzagni decided to withdraw from the movement of which
XVI Günter Berghaus
he had been such an active supporter. Ekaterina Lazareva offers a critical view
on the first international showing of the Mattioli Collection for nearly fifty
years. It took place in 2021– 22 in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, where Italian Fu-
turist paintings are rarely on display.
One of the most important Futurist museums and archives is the Museo
d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART). Its origins are in-
timately connected to Fortunato Depero, in particular the Galleria-Museo Depero
conceived by the artist himself between 1956 and 1959. Over the years, MART has
organized an extensive exhibition programme dedicated to the artist from Rover-
eto. In 2021– 22, the museum and the City of Rovereto celebrated the artist, his
rôle within the city and the province of Trento, and his reception amongst the
younger generation of Italian artists. Of the nine exhibitons altogether, Juan
Agustín Mancebo Roca has chosen two for a comprehensive assessments: Depero
New Depero, with an emphasis on the artist’s influence on artists, designers and
creators of audio-visual artworks, and Depero e la sua casa d’arte, focussed on
Depero’s decorative art workshop (1919 – 1942).
A number of important new books on Futurist art and literature appeared in
the past years, and eight of them were chosen for review here. Luigi Weber dis-
cusses Barbara Meazzi’s survey of Futurist novels in “Il fantasma del romanzo”:
Le futurisme italien et l’écriture romanesque (1909 – 1920). Monica Biasiolo re-
views Elena Rampazzo’s Futurista al chiaro di luna: La poesia di Paolo Buzzi
fra tradizione e avanguardia, a study of the poetry of one of Futurism’s most im-
portant poets and close collaborator of F.T. Marinetti. Also Isabella Pugliese’s
Poeta e ribelle: Gian Pietro Lucini teorico e critico della letteratura, reviewed
here by Deirdre O’Grady, is rooted in a dottorato di ricerca and provides many
new insights into the initial Futurist circle and one of its key members, who
was the first to clash with Marinetti and to declare the need to “go beyond” Fu-
turism. Another re-worked dissertation issued for the general public is discussed
by Stephen J. Bury, a great expert on Futurist artists’ books: Gianluca Camillini’s
Fortunato Depero and Depero futurista 1913 – 1927. This study offers a comprehen-
sive examination of the so-called ‘Bolted Book’ (libro imbullonato) with regard to
the design methodologies adopted by Depero, his interest in the field of adver-
tising, the book’s formal features and its political context.
David Mather in Futurist Conditions: Imagining Time in Italian Futurism ana-
lyses how photography triggered some radical changes in the visual imagery of
Futurism, particularly in the works of Anton-Giulio Bragaglia, Giacomo Balla and
Umberto Boccioni. Larissa Müller discusses Mather’s broadly based historical,
synchronic and comparatist approach to a complex and multidimensional as-
pect of Futurism’s artistic practice. Maddalena Carli assesses how Lucia Piccioni,
in her book on Art et fascisme: Peindre l’italianité (1922 – 1943), interprets the
Editorial XVII
manner in which Futurism vied with Novecento, Stracittà and Strapaese for the
status of an ‘official’ State art in Fascist Italy. Although Futurism runs like a fil
rouge throughout this study, special attention is given to aeropainting and the
exaltation of the so-called aerovita, which promoted aviation as a political, mili-
tary and spiritual symbol of Fascist Italy, thus serving as a ideological buttress to
Fascism’s militarist endeavours in the 1930s.
Claudio Palomares-Salas has brought together years of research into ultraí-
smo and estridentismo in his new book, The Spatiality of the Hispanic Avant-
garde. It is given a critical reading by Renée M. Silverman, herself an expert in
this field, who finds that the two avant-garde movements from Spain and Mexico
explored in the 1910s and 1920s the interrelationship between space, social and
political life on the one hand, and cultural production on the other, in a manner
that bore close resemblance to the Futurist movements’ aesthetics and artistic
practices.
Ilya Zdanevich (pseud. Iliazd) acted as a kind of ‘ambassador of Georgian
Futurism’ when he left his native country and settled in Paris, unlike his brother
Kyrill, who continued to promote Futurism in the Caucasus. Johanna Drucker,
who is a leading scholar of avant-garde book design and experimental typogra-
phy, has previously published on Iliazd’s artist books and had already in 1994
announced a volume on Ilia Zdanevich and the Modern Art of the Book. This
has now seen the light of day in a thoroughly revised edition entitled A Meta-Bi-
ography of a Modernist. Unfortunately, it does not offer a biography of this impor-
tant Futurist. Given the fact that this book is likely to establish itself as a ‘stan-
dard’ work in the field, I considered it opportune to write an extended critique of
the author’s insufficient consultation of the extensive research conducted in Rus-
sia and Georgia and the limited archival foundation of her study.
Finally, our Bibliographic Section: Publications on Futurism, this time
covering the years 2019 – 2022, provides information on 30 exhibition catalogues,
1 special periodical issue, 4 edited volume of conference proceedings, 11 collec-
tive volumes, 44 monographic studies, 44 editions and 3 volumes that turn Fu-
turism into fiction. These 139 book publications are supplemented by 2 sound
and film recordings and show that Futurism Studies continues to be fertile
field of inquiry in many academic quarters around the world.
Section 1: Futurism Studies
Giacomo Coronelli
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910:
Dates and Editions Reconsidered
Abstract: This essay is the second part of my research devoted to Futurist man-
ifestos from 1909 to 1911 and deals with the publishing history of the manifesto
leaflets issued by Marinetti from February to the summer of 1910, when the
founder of Futurism employed this print medium for the first time for a large-
scale propaganda initiative. It discusses the first edition of the Manifesto of
the Futurist Painters, the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Paintings and Futurist
Venice, and investigates their variant printings and editions in Italian, French
and English. My investigations extend to Marinetti’s parallel publishing activites
and have brought to light a number of previously unknown facts which help to
establish a more accurate timeline of the developments in early Futurism. In the
conclusion, this essay addresses the concept of manifesto leaflets as a new
means of communication, which gradually replaced the medium of the magazine
and allowed Marinetti to introduce new ways of managing Futurist propaganda
and the membership of the Futurist group.
Introduction
The 2020 edition of the International Yearbook of Futurism Studies published a
first part of my research concerning the publishing history of the first Futurist
manifestos, i. e. the series of leaflets released under the aegis of “The Editorial
Office of Poesia” and printed by Poligrafia Italiana, Marinetti’s customary print
shop in Milan, in the very early days of Futurism, from February 1909 until
the end of 1911.¹ In many respects – not least bibliographically – this was a dis-
tinct phase of Futurism, quite different from the one that came immediately after-
wards. Four events coincided at the end of 1911 and “inaugurated a new chapter
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110800920-002
4 Giacomo Coronelli
Versari: “The Letterhead”, p. 100. Versari’s essay is the main reference for the following infor-
mations.
The book was published by his Parisian friend Eduard Sansot in the summer of 1911, but cir-
culated and was reviewed only in the autumn of the year. See Coronelli: “The Futurist Manifes-
tos of 1909”, p. 22, note 57.
Marinetti: Critical Writings, p. 74.
See Coronelli: “The Futurist Manifestos of 1909”, p. 27.
Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano; Coronelli: “Spigolature bibliografiche sui manifesti
futuristi”; D’Ambrosio: Manifesti programmatici.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 5
book had already been printed,¹⁰ he managed to obtain three columns for his
manifesto on the first page of the prestigious Le Figaro. ¹¹ This unexpected
chance to hog the Parisian limelight must have prompted Marinetti to halt the
public release of the French book and to wait for a fresh occasion to make
use of it for the purpose of spreading the Futurist message in France. Marinetti’s
concern as a publisher, so it seems, was to stagger the release of every printed
matter related to his movement in a manner that would guarantee a steady
flow of publicity to keep attention on Futurism alive.
Documents show that a suitable occasion for the release of the Enquête in-
ternationale came only a year later, even after the publication of Palazzeschi’s
L’incendiario (The Arsonist), i. e. the book announced in Poesia 5:7– 9 as Sole
mio. In fact, in May 1909, Marinetti had his drama Poupées électriques (Electric
Dolls) published by Sansot, again with the Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism
as the opening chapter. Whereas Poesia 5:3 – 6, out in July 1909, announced Le
ranocchie turchine as already published, Enquête internationale was still said
to be “forthcoming.”¹² The same happened in Poesia 5:7– 9, out in December
1909, as well as in a little known ephemeral publication, Il futurismo: Supple-
mento alla rassegna internazionale “Poesia” (anno quinto), out in February
1910.¹³ There is no evidence that the Enquête was actually in circulation before
April 1910, when it was first mentioned in the French press.¹⁴
Also the release of Gian Pietro Lucini’s poetry collection Revolverate (Revolv-
er Shots), dated 1909, was delayed. The book is listed amongst the published
works in the last issue of Poesia, together with Buzzi’s Aeroplani: Canti alati
(Aeroplanes: Winged Songs). But wheras Aeroplani was reviewed in the Italian
press already in mid-October 1909,¹⁵ there was still no mention of Revolverate
The Florence Central Library received the mandatory copy of Enquête internationale sur le
vers libre in time for the April issue of Bollettino delle pubblicazioni italiane ricevute per diritto
di stampa: 1909 (no. 100, p. 63, item no. 1783).
See Coronelli: “The Futurist Manifestos of 1909”, pp. 16 – 20.
Poesia 5:3 – 6 (April-July 1909), front inner sleeve.
It was issued to publicize the second Futurist serata at the Teatro Lirico in Milan (15 February
1910). See Salaris: Riviste futuriste, pp. 300 – 305. I shall address this publication more thorough-
ly in the conclusive chapter of the present essay.
See Le Journal, 1 April 1910, p. 5 col. 6; L’Occident 101, April 1910, p. [138]; Revue germanique
6:3, May–June 1910, p. 370. Interestingly, the bibliographic handbook of French literature edited
by Gustave Lanson has two entries for the Enquête internationale sur le vers libre: one dated
“1910”, the other “1909.” See Lanson: Manuel bibliographique de la littérature française moderne,
p. 1294, no. 18719 and p. 1525, no. 23115.
The earliest review of Aeroplani that I was able to find was in L’ora 10:288 (16 – 17 October
1909). See De Marco: “L’ora” di Palermo, p. 32.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 7
by late-January 1910.¹⁶ It is worth delving a bit deeper into the publishing history
of Lucini’s book, as it seems typical of the problems we are facing when trying to
date Futurist imprints and the vagaries of membership in the early Futurist
group.
The complicated relationship between Lucini and his publisher is one of the
most fascinating in the early history of Futurism.¹⁷ Immediately after the first
launch of the Manifesto of Futurism in early February 1909, Lucini – who was in-
serted by default in the earliest list of “talents already gathered around the blaz-
ing ensign of Futurism”¹⁸ – unexpectedly declared his firm opposition to
Marinetti’s new literary school. Revolverate should have opened with a preface
by the author, entitled Diffida contro certo “Futurismo” (Be Wary of a Certain
Kind of “Futurism”), a sharply worded attack on Marinetti’s concept of Futurism.
Marinetti complained to the poet that the text was disrespectful to Futurism as a
whole and to him as its leader in particular.¹⁹ Eventually, he himself wrote a Fu-
turist preface in place of the one composed by Lucini.²⁰
After this short-lived discord, there followed a long truce between the two
men, motivated no doubt by both of them gaining kudos from one another: Lu-
cini, who conditionally agreed to be re-admitted in the Futurist group, had an
influential and generous publisher, and Marinetti an important flagship and
an invaluable contact to the youngest generation of poets, who regarded Lucini
as their master. In view of the sequence of these events, it is not surprising that
Lucini’s name, which opened the list of Futurists members in a press release in
early February 1909, was absent in September 1909 from the very same list in the
Second Proclamation, later issued under the better-known title Uccidiamo il
In a letter sent in late January or early February 1910, as it makes reference to the impending
Futurist serata at the Teatro Lirico in Milan (15 February), Marinetti explained: “Carissimo Luci-
ni, non stupirti del fatto che non vi sono ancora articoli sulle Revolverate, poiché l’invio comple-
to venne fatto soltanto otto giorni fa.” Salaris: Futurismo postale, p. 355.
In Italian language, there is a wealth of studies on Lucini, many of them of high-quality, for
example De Maria: “Lucini e il futurismo”; Longatti: “Il primo sodalizio Marinetti-Lucini”, and
the introductions to Lucini: Libri e cose scritte, Lucini: Revolverate e Nuove revolverate and Lu-
cini: Marinetti futurismo futuristi. For a recent assessment of this issue in the English language,
see Deirdre O’Grady′s review in this volume of the Yearbook: “Gian Pietro Lucini in Context: Fu-
turism and the Pursuit of a New ‘Avant-garde’.”
Il futurismo, undated flyer released around 4 February 1909, reproduced in Coronelli: “The
Futurist Manifestos of 1909”, p. 13, fig. 2 and reprinted on pp. 32– 34.
See Marinetti quoted in Lucini: Revolverate e Nuove revolverate, p. 362: “Ma, senza rancore, ti
prego […] di scrivere […] una prefazione, anche ferocemente contraria al Manifesto, ma debita-
mente rispettosa.”
Salaris: Futurismo postale, p. 354, publishes a previously unknown letter by Marinetti to Lu-
cini, in which it is clear that adopting the editor’s preface was a shared decision.
8 Giacomo Coronelli
chiaro di luna (Let’s Kill off the Moonlight, 1911). However, he was eventually re-
instated in December 1909 amongst the Futurist brethren addressed in the pref-
ace of Mafarka le futuriste (see Appendix 1).
The recent Handbook of International Futurism summarizes the state of to-
day’s knowledge about the first edition of the original French version of Marinet-
ti’s renowned first novel: “In the critical literature, Mafarka is variously dated
1909 or 1910. The first edition says ‘1909’ on the title page, but ‘1910’ on the
cover. It appears that the book was printed in December 1909, but issued in Jan-
uary 1910.”²¹ In the contemporary French press, however, there is absolutely no
trace of the book until July 1910.²² Barbara Meazzi’s research in the Marinetti Pa-
pers held at the Getty Research Institute helps to clarify the stages of the publish-
ing process.²³ According to documents in Los Angeles, the manuscript was con-
signed to publisher on 1 October 1909, the preface around mid-November,²⁴ and
the bill for publishing the work (2,600 francs for two thousand copies) was set
up on 31 December 1909. Therefore, the announcement in the December 1909
issue of Poesia that Mafarka le futuriste was “in print” was almost certainly cor-
rect. However, contrary to what one would expect, the book was not released the
following January. In the letters sent by Sansot to Marinetti at the end of 1909,
the publisher appears very concerned about the novel’s controversial contents
and fearful that it might be prosecuted. A bill issued by Sansot on 1 April
1910, charging 375 francs for further corrections made to the novel, suggests
that the book was still waiting to be released in the spring of 1910.
Somigli: “Italy”, p. 581, note 2. See also Meazzi: “Il fantasma del romanzo”, p. 31; Cammarota:
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti: Bibliografia, p. 52, no. 23; Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes,
pp. 149 – 150.
See Novelli: “Contributo a una bibliografia della fortuna del futurismo in Francia (1909 –
1920)”, p. 224, nos. 73 (Mercure de France 1 July 1910), 74 (Propos 15 July 1910), 75 (Nouvelles
de la République des Lettres, July 1910). To which at least the following should be added: Jean
Clary’s short notice in Pan 3:6 (June–July 1910), p. 407 and Pierre Vanneur’s mention in Le Pen-
seur 10:6 (June 1910), p. 239. Apollinaire received his presentation copy after the summer holi-
days, as he wrote in a postcard to Marinetti on 24 August 1910, first published by Bohn: “Une
lettre à Marinetti” (Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT,
GEN MSS 130, Box 7, Folder 97, accessible online at https://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Re
cord/3438141).
See Meazzi: “Il fantasma del romanzo”, pp. 31– 32.
The poet’s list in the address to “My Brother Futurists!” that opens the Preface is clearly de-
rived from the shape of the group at the end of 1909, while in Mafarka’s Italian translation, re-
leased only a few months later, in March 1910, this list has almost doubled. See Appendix 1.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 9
It appears that this delay opened up an opportunity, in April 1910, for pub-
lishing the Enquête internationale sur le vers libre. ²⁵ Almost contemporarily, the
Italian translation Mafarka il futurista appeared in the Edizioni futuriste di “Poe-
sia”. The fact that it was immediately seized by the police shows that Sansot’s
fears were indeed justified. The confiscation was mentioned by the Roman news-
paper La ragione on 4 April 1910.²⁶ It is astonishing, though, that a Futurist press
release concerning the seizure of Mafarka il futurista stated that the book was
“already published in Paris in its French version”,²⁷ even though Mafarka le fu-
turiste was still being proofread and would not be released until July. To shed
more light on these strange inconsistencies, we need to probe the complex chro-
nology of events and developments in the first half of 1910, a period packed with
activities, manifestos and other printed matter. This may finally help us to estab-
lish a reliable timeline of the developments in the early history of the Futurist
group.
Indeed, the list of Marinetti’s published works on p. 2 of Mafarka le futuriste features the En-
quête internationale sur le vers libre et Manifeste du Futurisme par F. T. Marinetti with a reported
print run of 8,000 copies.
The article by G.P. Lucini about the requisition (“Il sequestro di ‘Mafarka’”) appeared well in
advance of the other press responses, all dating to early May. See C. Riva: “Toghe talari? Il se-
questro di ‘Mafarka il futurista’ di F.T. Marinetti.” La giovane Italia 35 (15 May 1910): 25 – 26.
D’Ambrosio: Nuove verità crudeli, pp. 280 – 282 for La tavola rotonda nos. 1 and 8, May 1910.
Mafarka il futurista sequestrato, undated flyer. See Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes,
pp. 193 – 195; Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano, p. 14 no. 8.1 (facsimile).
Coronelli: “The Futurist Manifestos of 1909”, p. 23 fig. 4 and pp. 27– 29.
Trieste, Politeama Rossetti, 12 January 1910, and Milan, Teatro Lirico, 15 February. These two
serate have been described and analysed in Berghaus: Italian Futurism Theatre, pp. 86 – 97.
10 Giacomo Coronelli
the Futurist Painters). Even though the details of Marinetti’s meeting with the
five artists who signed the manifesto are still rather muddled,³⁰ the documents
suggest that the launch of the painters’ first manifesto must have been decided
on soon after the Milanese serata of 15 February 1910. There is no trace of the
painters in the Futurist propaganda publicizing the event, nor in its press re-
views. However, two weeks later, around 3 March, the manifesto was already dis-
tributed to the press.³¹
The editio princeps of the Manifesto dei pittori futuristi was a four-page, fold-
ed and unpaginated leaflet measuring 290 x 230 millimetres, very similar to the
almost contemporary leaflet of the Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism. Unlike
this, however, the title “Manifesto dei pittori futuristi” is lowercase, in smaller
print, the words all packed into the same line (see Fig. 1a). The manifesto carries
the signatures of Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, Romolo Romani
and Aroldo Bonzagni, and went under the aegis of “Redazione di Poesia | Via
Senato, 2 – Milano”, with no date given.³² The date “11 February 1910” was
only added later, in the reprint, and is patently fictitious because, as I wrote
above, there was not the faintest trace of a group of Futurist painters, nor of
any manifesto they had in mind, before the Milanese serata of 15 February.
The major changes in the composition of the Futurist painters’ quintet just
after its foundation – and consenquently in the painter’s manifestos – are
well known in their general outline.³³ Romolo Romani and Arolodo Bonzagni,
one after the other, left the group between March and May 1910, to be replaced,
respectively, by Gino Severini and Giacomo Balla. Consequently, Marinetti or-
dered a reprint of the Manifesto dei pittori futuristi with the names of the signa-
tories revised (see Fig. 1b).³⁴ He used the same plates as in the first printing, ex-
Fig. 1a. Manifesto dei pittori futuristi. Redazione di “Poesia”. Via Senato, 2 – Milano. Poli-
grafia Italiana–Milano. Issued between 16 February and 2 March 1910. 290 x 230 mm, bifo-
lium. First edition, first printing. Top of the first and bottom of the last page. Fig. 1b. Mani-
festo dei pittori futuristi. Milano, 11 febbraio 1910. Uffici di “Poesia”, Via Senato 2. Poligrafia
Italiana–Milano. Issued between September 1910 and 1911. 290 x 230 mm, bifolium. First
edition, second and last printing. Top of the first and bottom of the third page.
cept for a major interpolation at the beginning of the text, a few other minor
changes here and there, and the bottom lines of the last page with the new
names in the – now definitive – quintet of the Futurist Painters (see Appendix
2). Furthermore, the “Redazione di Poesia” became “Uffici di Poesia”, and the
date “11 February 1910” was added at the foot of the last page (see Appendix
2, section 1.2.6).
Contrary to what is asserted in all the studies on the subject,³⁵ this updated
reprint of the manifesto leaflet did not coincide with the actual changes in the
ition, issued from Spring 1913 onwards under the aegis of the Direction of the Futurist Move-
ment. Therefore, his corresponding notes are almost completely useless.
See Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano, p. 13 no. 4.2, who dates the reprint “May 1910.”
Coronelli: “Spigolature bibliografiche sui manifesti futuristi 1909 – 1910”, p. 70 no. 2, who says
“around 8 March 1910.” Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes, p. 166: “Le tract a été réimpri-
mé au moins deux fois, d’abord lorsque Bonzagni et Romani ont quitté le mouvement futuriste
et ont été remplacés par Giacomo Balla et Gino Severini.” Lista, Futurisme, p. 161: “Le placard
12 Giacomo Coronelli
composition of the group. Several documents, which I shall examine more thor-
oughly below, show that the reprint of the Manifesto dei pittori futuristi did not
take place before September 1910; there is even an off-chance that it may have
taken place a whole year later, in preparation for a new series of serate that
were to take place in the first half of 1911, and for the Prima esposizione d’arte
libera (First Free Art Exhibition) held in Milan, 1 May–30 June 1911.³⁶
Although Romolo Romani’s signature featured in the freshly printed mani-
festo, he was not to be seen onstage at the Teatro Chiarella in Turin, during
the official debut of the Futurist group of painters on 8 March 1910.³⁷ We must
assume that he left the group sometime before 19 March 1910, the date of Mostra
di bianco e nero held at the Famiglia Artistica in Milan. The Futurist painters
would later recall this exhibition of works executed in black and white (draw-
ings, engravings etc.) as “our first exhibition.”³⁸
replié édité en italien avec leurs signatures ne contient pas celle de Balla que l’on trouvera dans
la réédition qui suivit immédiatement.”
On the Prima esposizione d’arte libera, an exhibition without jury and awards along the lines
of the Parisian Salon des Indépendants, see Crispolti: Cataloghi di esposizioni, p. 21 f. no. 1911/1;
D’Agati: “Arte libera, 1911”; Boccioni: Lettere futuriste, pp. 210 – 211; Poggi: Inventing Futurism,
pp. 102– 108.
The serata is described in a very rare press release issued by Marinetti in March 1910, La vit-
toria dei futuristi a Torino, which served as source for most of the press reviews of the event, sur-
prisingly similar in their reporting on the event. See Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes,
pp. 176 – 178 and Coronelli: “The Futurist Manifestos of 1909”, p. 13, note 33. According to this
press release, only Marinetti, Mazza, Palazzeschi, Boccioni, Carrà, Bonzagni and Russolo were
onstage in Turin. For an analysis of the performance and its reception in the contemporary
press see Berghaus: Italian Futurism Theatre, pp. 97– 99.
The claim is made in a very rare flyer issued for Boccion’s solo exhibition in Venice in July
1910: Noi, pittori futuristi (We, the Futurist Painters), published also in a French translation. See
Crispolti: Cataloghi di esposizioni, p. 17 no. 1910/4a; D’Ambrosio: Manifesti programmatici, p. 71
no. 1910/54; Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes, pp. 245 – 246; Tonini: I manifesti del futur-
ismo italiano, p. 20 no. 16.1.
See Crispolti: Cataloghi di esposizioni, p. 16 no. 1910/1.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 13
See Lista: Futurisme, pp. 89 – 90; Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes, pp. 174– 176; To-
nini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano, p. 14, no. 6.1.
It featured, for example, in “Futurists a Strenuous Lot” in The Arkansas Gazette in Little Rock
(AR), 3 May 1910, p. 4.
See Coronelli: “The Futurist Manifestos of 1909”, fig. 4 on p. 23. The leaflet is reproduced also
in other reference works and catalogues, but it is always uncritically dated “1909”, often specif-
ically “February 1909”, although this is only the date of the first edition of the text, not the date
when this specific leaflet was published.
14 Giacomo Coronelli
Fig. 2. Les Poètes et les peintres futuristes livrent bataille dans les grands théâtres italiens.
S. l., s. n. & s. d. [Milan, “Poesia”, April 1910]. Poligrafia Italiana–Milano. 290 x 230 mm, bi-
folium. First page.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 15
Fig. 3a. La pittura futurista: Manifesto tecnico. Milano, 11 Aprile 1910. Uffici di “Poesia” – Via
Senato, 2. Poligrafia Italiana–Milano – 1548. Issued shortly before 19 April 1910. 290 x
230 mm, bifolium. First edition, first printing. Top of the first and bottom of the third page.
Fig. 3b. La pittura futurista: Manifesto tecnico. Milano, 11 Aprile 1910. Uffici di “Poesia” – Via
Senato, 2. Poligrafia Italiana–Milano 1232. Issued between September 1910 and 1911. 290 x
230 mm, bifolium. First edition, fourth and last printing. Top of the first and bottom of the
third page.
The existence of a further printing where the name of Aroldo Bonzagni was re-
placed by that of Giacomo Balla (see Fig. 3 b) has been known to Futurism schol-
ars for a while,⁴⁸ but nobody seriously investigated when this definitive version
was actually printed. When collating copies, I was able to detect three previously
unknown printings of the manifesto, each with different characteristics but all of
them still featuring Bonzagni amongst the signatories.⁴⁹ This means that they
precede the definitive printing with Balla’s name and probably left the printer’s
shop in close succession after the first printing. They introduced a few variants
but kept the same shape of printing plates (see Appendix 3, sections 1.1– 3).
Each reprint appears to have been motivated by some nontrivial changes to
the text, to which other minor variants and misprints were added. The second
See Boccioni: Lettere futuriste, p. 196; Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano, p. 14, no. 9.2;
Coronelli: “Spigolature bibliografiche sui manifesti futuristi 1909 – 1910”, p. 71, no. 2.
I must extend my thanks to Davide Maspero, an exceptional connoisseur of Futurist biblio-
graphy, for helping me identify most of these variants.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 17
printing (Appendix 3, section 1.2) inserts on the first page a whole new sentence
and thus increases the total lines of the text from twenty-eight to twenty-nine:
“To paint a figure, it’s not necessary to make the figure; it’s necessary to make
its atmosphere.”⁵⁰ The second printing has a number of misprints, amongst
which the conspicuous “pivisionismo” for “divisionismo” (italics in the original)
in the second line of the third page. In the signatories’ list at the bottom of
the text, the typesetter tried to add an accent to Carlo Carrà’s name (which
had been missing in the first printing), but then forgot to close the parenthesis
of the last signatory. The third printing (Appendix 3, section 1.3) corrects these
misprints, but introduces a substantial change in the list of colours featured
on the second page. Whereas the first and the second printing list brown, yellow,
red, green and blue, the third printing adds the violet as the latest colour of the
list:
At that moment, everyone will realize that it’s not brown that meanders beneath our skin
but yellow that shines, red that flames, and green, blue, and violet that voluptuously and
caressingly dance in it! How can the human face still be viewed as rosy when our life has
been undeniably doubled by our love of the night? The human face is yellow, it’s red, it’s
green, it’s blue, it’s violet. The pallor of a woman looking in the window of a jewelry shop
is more iridescent than all the prisms of the jewels that fascinate her.⁵¹
The existence of three different printings with significant changes, all realized in
close sequence in April 1910, shows that the painters paid close attention to tech-
nical details and engaged in a prolonged elaboration of the text. As events un-
folded, Aroldo Bonzagni left the group, Giacomo Balla entered the fold, and a
fourth printing of the technical manifesto was undertaken, featuring the signa-
tures of the definitive quintet of Futurist painters (see Fig. 3b). The text of this
new leaflet was entirely recomposed, using a similar but different font, with
small adjustments (see Appendix 3, section 1.4) and only one significant change:
in the paragraph where the Futurist painters draw a parallel between the “en-
lightened individual research [that] has taken the place of […] dogma in all fields
of human thought” and the “vivifying current of individual freedom” that should
“replace academic tradition” in art, the earlier printings have “vivifying scientific
Boccioni: Futurist Painting Sculpture (Plastic Dynamism), p. 169 (the manifesto was indeed
reprinted in Boccioni’s only published book).
Boccioni: Futurist Painting Sculpture (Plastic Dynamism), p. 170. Bold type is mine, highlight-
ing the additions of the third printing.
18 Giacomo Coronelli
current”, whereas the definitive printing uses the phrase “vivifying current of in-
dividual freedom” (see Appendix 3, section 1.4.3).⁵²
When exactly the last and definitive printing of the Manifesto tecnico della
pittura futurista took place, will probably remain an unsolved question. The
documents that I discuss below suggest that it was not done before September
1910, i. e. four months after the announcement of Giacomo Balla’s entry into
the group of Futurist painters. It may well be that this version was only printed
and distributed for the first time on the occasion of the Prima Esposizione d’arte
libera of May–June 1911.
Futurist Venice
After the Mostra di bianco e nero at the Famiglia Artistica in Milan (19 March to 3
April 1910), the main event on the Futurist agenda was the fourth serata in Na-
ples, to be held at the Mercadante Theatre on 20 April 1910. The painters’ tech-
nical manifesto had already reached the city, as a couple of well-crafted satiric
vignettes in Monsignor Perrelli (21 April 1910) demonstrate.⁵³ A mere week later,
on 27 April, the launch of the Futurist Venice flyers from the clock tower in Saint
Mark’s Square should have taken place in Venice.⁵⁴ These flyers measure about
Although this is not the place to discuss these changes further, they prompted me to modify
the existing English translations. I mostly used the one made by Richard Shane Agin and Maria
Elena Versari, but when it comes to the original “illuminata ricerca individuale” that opens the
paragraph, I followed Lawrence Rainey’s “research” for “ricerca” (instead of “inquiry” proposed
by Shane Agin and Versari). The original “corrente scientifica” (scientific current, but also sci-
entific trend) featured in the first printings of the manifesto, indeed, matches “research” far bet-
ter than “inquiry”, as well as “enlightened” for “illuminata” (Shane Agin and Versari), on the
contrary, seems much more suited to the context than “clear-sighted” (Rainey). See, respectively,
Boccioni: Futurist Painting Sculpture (Plastic Dynamism), p. 170, and Rainey et al.: Futurism: An
Anthology, p. 65.
See D’Ambrosio: Nuove verità crudeli, pp. 162, 189 fig. 20, 196 fig. 21– 22 and D’Ambrosio:
“Matilde Serao’s Battle with the Futurists in Naples.”
No scholar to date was able to find evidence of this event in non-Futurist documents. Lista
takes the view that “Cette performance urbaine du groupe futuriste est relatée dans plusieurs
journaux les mois suivants, mais uniquement à partir des affirmations imprécises de Marinetti
quant à la date de l’événement et à la quantité des tracts lancés. Ainsi, on n’a jamais pu établir
s’il s’agissait d’un événement réel ou d’un événement imaginaire conçu à des fins de propa-
gande et de publicité par Marinetti.” Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes, p. 205. Stringa
judges that “non si trova alcun riscontro nei quotidiani veneziani dell’avvenimento.” Stringa:
“ ‘… l’amato e fecondo manifesto’: Cenni sulla diffusione del futurismo in Italia nel febbraio
del 1909”, p. 210 note 8. Berghaus suggested that the actual date of the event could be 25
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 19
235 x 170 millimetres and were printed on pale green paper, either with the text
in Italian (Venezia futurista), or with the same text in French (Venise futuriste),
with only one difference: in the French flyers, the list of signatories below the
text begins with the Futurist group of poets, while in the Italian flyers the Futurist
painters precede.⁵⁵
I PITTORI FUTURISTI
U. Boccioni – A. Bonzagni – C. D. Carrà
L. Russolo – G. Severini, ecc.
I POETI FUTURITI
F.T. Marinetti – Paolo Buzzi – A. Palazzeschi
E. Cavacchioli – Armando Mazza
Libero Altomare
Luciano Folgore – Giuseppe Carrieri, ecc.
The flyers are undated, but a couple of weeks later Marinetti distributed a narrow
and long press release in Italian, with the same title as the flyer, Venezia futurista
(see Fig. 4a). Here, the text of the flyer is preceded by the following address to
editors:
Dear Colleague, | Please leave aside all preconceptions about Futurism and let me know, in
your newspaper or by letter, whether you approve of our most recent gesture: | On 27 April,
the Futurist painters Boccioni, Bonzagni, Carrà and Russolo, as well as the Futurist poets
Marinetti, Armando Mazza and Aldo Palazzeschi, went to Venice, climbed the Clock
Tower, and from there, amidst the tumultuous flights of frightened pigeons, launched
one hundred thousand flyers, in Italian and French, to the agitation and shrieking aston-
ishment of the dense crowd in Piazza San Marco.⁵⁶
April, because the day of the “Festa di San Marco” would have convened a good crowd in the
square. All of these, however, remain mere hypothesis until a thorough research in local news-
papers of April 1910 will be carried out.
Both flyers are reproduced in the original by D’Ambrosio: Manifesti programmatici, p. 61
nos. 1910/39 and 40. Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano, p. 18, no. 11.2 and Lista: Le Futur-
isme: Textes et manifestes, p. 205 reproduce the French flyer. Passerini et al.: Aroldo Bonzagni e il
suo tempo, pp. 60 – 61, reproduces the Italian flyer.
“Caro Collega, | Vogliate lasciare da parte ogni preconcetto intorno al Futurismo e risponder-
mi, vi prego, nel vostro giornale o per lettera, se approvate il nostro gesto più recente: | Il giorno
27 aprile, i pittori futuristi Boccioni, Bonzagni, Carrà e Russolo, e i poeti futuristi Marinetti, Ar-
mando Mazza e Aldo Palazzeschi, recatisi a Venezia, salirono sulla Torre dell’Orologio, e di là,
fra i voli tumultuosi dei colombi spaventati, lanciarono sull’agitazione e lo stupore urlante della
densa folla che gremiva la Piazza San Marco, centomila manifesti, in italiano e in francese, così
concepiti.”
20 Giacomo Coronelli
Below the diatribe against Venetian traditionalism (“We turn our backs on the
ancient Venice, worn out and brought to ruin by centuries of pleasure seek-
ing […]”)⁵⁷ and the signatures, a second address to the editors says:
At eight o’clock in the evening, the Futurists put the whole city in turmoil again, with re-
peated throwing of their manifestos in the middle of the crowd gathered in St Mark’s Square
to hear the city music. | If you do not approve of this act of ours, we will have to count you
among the great herd of passétists in Italy, fortunately destined to be overwhelmed by our
victorious expansion. | Thanking you in advance for your reply, I greet you. | F. T. MAR1NET-
TI | Director of “POESIA”.⁵⁸
The Venezia futurista press release, sent out around 15 May 1910,⁵⁹ is the only
Futurist document featuring the date and the details of the event. It is rare nowa-
days, often unknown to scholars or mistaken⁶⁰ for the French press release Ven-
ise futuriste (see Fig. 4b), sent out a month later⁶¹ and featuring some small but
Marinetti: Critical Writings, p. 165. “Noi ripudiamo l’antica Venezia, estenuata e sfatta da vol-
uttà secolari.” Teoria e invenzione futurista, 1st edn p. 510, 2nd edn p. 585.
“Alle otto di sera, i Futuristi mettevano di nuovo in subbuglio l’intera città, con innumerevoli
getti di loro manifesti in mezzo alla folla adunata in Piazza San Marco a udire la musica citta-
dina. | Se voi non approverete questo nostro atto, dovremo annoverarvi nella grande mandra dei
Passatisti d’Italia, fortunatamente destinata ad essere sopraffatta dal nostro dilagare vittorioso. |
Ringraziandovi anticipatamente della risposta, vi saluto. | F.T. MARINETTI | Direttore di ‘Poe-
sia’.”
See Francesco Cangiullo’s letter and subsequent article in L’allegria 1:4 (15 May 1910), repro-
duced in D’Ambrosio: Nuove verità crudeli, pp. 242– 243 and Marinetti and Cangiullo: Lettere
(1910 – 1943), p. 162, no. 2. The Davide Maspero Collection in Milan contains a copy of the
press release that still preserves the original envelope, addressed to the director of Giornale di
Piacenza. It carries a postal stamp dated 14 May 1910 and is headed “Poesia: Rassegna Interna-
zionale | Direttore: F.T. Marinetti | Milano – Via Senato, 2”.
The document is missing from D’Ambrosio: Manifesti programmatici and it is incorrectly de-
scribed by Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano, p. 18, no. 11.3, as a mere Italian version of the
French press release. See also the mistaken entry in Cammarota: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti:
Bibliografia, p. 143, no. 9 and Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes, p. 206.
The Parisian Journal des débats politiques et littéraires discussed the manifesto on 14 June
1910, and Comœdia the day after, with a note from the editor-in-chief Gaston de Pawlowski: “Ro-
mantiques attardés.” Two days later, Comœdia hosted the full text of the press release as the
opening piece in the header section on its third page, with the title Venise futuriste and three
satirical drawings by André Warnod (see Milan: “André Warnod’s Illustration of Marinetti’s ‘Fu-
turist Speech to the Venetians’”). The original French press release is rare, and I cannot quote a
reference book in which one could find it reproduced in the original format, but the text is well
known. See Lista: Le Futurisme: Textes et manifestes, pp. 206 – 207. Interestingly, instead of the
press release itself, D’Ambrosio: Manifesti programmatici, p. 62, no. 1910/41, reproduces the type-
written draft from the Severini Papers held at MART, Rovereto, which is precisely quoted and
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 21
Fig. 4a. Venezia futurista. F. T. Marinetti. Direttore di “Poesia”. Via Senato 2 – Milano. Poli-
grafia Italiana–Milano. Issued shortly before 15 May 1910. 340 x 145 mm, 1 leaf. Fig. 4b.
Venise futuriste. F. T. Marinetti. Directeur de “Poesia”. Via Senato 2 – Milano. Poligrafia Italia-
na–Milano. Issued shortly before 15 June 1910. 440 x 145 mm, 1 leaf.
22 Giacomo Coronelli
crucial changes: “On 27 April” becomes “Tout récemment” (fairly recently); Bon-
zagni disappeares from the list of Futurist painters who supposedly climbed the
clock tower, and Paolo Buzzi shows up amongst the Futurist poets involved in
the action; “one hundred thousand flyers” become “200,000 multicoloured fly-
ers” that frightened “the affable and home-loving pigeons” so much “that they
deserted for several days their beautiful marble lace nests.” The pigeon motif,
which was already present in the Italian press release, was considerably elabo-
rated here.
In the Venise futuriste press release, the text of the manifesto is also slightly
changed and expanded. In particular, a new paragraph introduces an aggressive
political argument that is absent from the version issued in the flyers and in the
Italian press release Venezia futurista:
We wish to cure and begin the healing process of this putrescent city, this magnificent car-
buncle from the past. We want to bring the Venetian people back to life, to ennoble them,
fallen as they are from their former greatness, stupefied by a sickening spinelessness and
humiliated by their habitual, shady little businesses. We wish to prepare the birth of an in-
dustrial and military Venice which can brave and confront on the Adriatic Sea our greatest
enemy: Austria.⁶²
fully transcribed by Rovati in Boccioni: Lettere futuriste, pp. 194– 195, note 5. The text shows no
variation from the printed text.
As long as the text was congruent, i. e. until the penultimate sentence, I follow the transla-
tion in Marinetti: Critical Writings, p. 165.
The English press release is reproduced in D’Ambrosio: Manifesti programmatici, p. 62,
no. 1910/42 and Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano, p. 18, no. 11.5. It is mentioned in the
London Daily Express of 7 July 1910 (see Wood: “ ‘On or about December 1910’: F.T. Marinetti’s
Onslaught on London and Recursive Structures in Modernism”, p. 143) but also in The Manches-
ter Guardian of 6 July 1910. It reached the US in mid-July, being described in many newspapers,
amongst which the St. Luis Post Dispatch of 16 July 1910, The Argonaut in San Francisco on 23
July 1910 and eventually the renowned The New York Times on 24 July 1910.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 23
mier Manifeste futuriste aux Vénitiens, and the signatories’ list contains the
whole membership of the Direction of the Futurist Movement, introduced for
the first time in this book.
In the following years, Futurist propaganda added a great deal of confusion
to the debate by referring to the Venice manifesto by diverging titles and dates, a
mystification that endures in modern studies. At the end of 1913, i. e. three years
after its launch, the longer version of Futurist Venice was translated for the first
Italian anthology of Futurist manifestos, I manifesti del futurismo (The Manifes-
tos of Futurism), published under the aegis of Lacerba. It carried the title Contro
Venezia passatista (Against Traditionalist Venice),⁶⁴ was dated 27 April 1910, and
after the text of the manifesto, on the following page, seemingly without inter-
ruption, a note in italics – printed for the first time here – states that:
On 8 July 1910, 800,000 leaflets containing the manifesto were hurled by the Futurist poets
and painters from the top of the Clock Tower onto the crowds returning from the Lido. Thus
began the campaign which, for three years, the Futurist waged against traditionalist Venice.
The following speech against the Venetians, extemporized by Marinetti at the Fenice The-
ater, provoked a terrible battle. The Futurist were whistled at while the traditionalist were
beaten up. The Futurist painters Boccioni, Russolo and Carrà punctuated this speech with
many resounding slaps. The fist of the Futurist poet Armando Mazza, who is also an athlete,
stays fixed in the memory.⁶⁵
This text is the primary source for the date “8 July”, seemingly coming out of the
blue at the end of 1913. The note in italics on page 33 of the Lacerba’s anthology
serves as a link between Futurist Venice and another manifesto, Futurist Speech
to the Venetians, which is seamlessly printed after the note. Futurist sources state
that the Speech to the Venetians was addressed on the occasion of the Futurist
serate in Venice and Padua at the beginning of August 1910. But the first version
The new title was first adopted in the list of manifestos printed on the back of Carrà’s leaflet
The Painting of Sounds, Noises, Smells, dated 11 August 1913. See Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo
italiano, p. 42, no. 62 and p. 43 (facsimile). This very first catalogue of Futurist manifestos was
repeated in a few other leaflets and eventually systematized in the Lacerba anthology.
Marinetti: Critical Writings, p. 166. The Lacerba anthology is the usual source of the text in
anthologies such as De Maria’s Teoria e invenzione futurista, Berghaus’ Critical Writings and
Rainey et al.: Futurism: An Anthology. Incidentally, in the Lacerba anthology, the manifesto is
attributed only to Marinetti, Boccioni, Carrà and Russolo. It contains a couple of minor varia-
tions to the French and English press releases of 1910 (and to Le Futurisme, 1911). The Irrendent-
ist argument is once again softened, omitting the reference to Austria as the “greatest enemy” for
a “Venice which can dominate the Adriatic, this great Italian lake.”
24 Giacomo Coronelli
of the text can be found in a leaflet entitled Discours futuriste aux Vénitiens, men-
tioned by the French press only in the late autumn of 1910.⁶⁶
The same combination of Futurist Venice and Futurist Speech to the Vene-
tians, under the heading “La battaglia di Venezia”, was included in the anthol-
ogy Guerra sola igiene del mondo (War the Sole Cleanser of the World), released
on the eve of Italy’s declaration of war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire (25 May
1915). Here, the date “8 July 1910” is moved to the beginning, before the two
textes. Futurist Venice seamlessy follows with all the new features introduced
in the Lacerba anthology, except for the title which now becomes Manifesto fu-
turista ai veneziani (Futurist Manifesto to the Venetians). The previously featured
date “27 April 1910” is now omitted.
In 1915, the corpus of Futurist texts underwent a process of rationalization,
with little regard to historical accuracy. Futurist Venice – which for a certain time
was also called Against Traditionalist Venice – was transformed into Futurist
Manifesto to the Venetians. Two events which originally happened several
months apart (if they happened at all!) were now combined under a single
date, “8 July 1910”, invented in 1913 and absent from all the records in 1910.⁶⁷
They now feature under a single heading as “The Battle of Venice.” It follows
from these informations that Futurist Venice ⁄ Against Traditional Venice ⁄ Futurist
Manifesto to the Venetians, as well as the dates 27 April and 8 July 1910, refer to
the same text and to the same – alleged – event. Scholars should be aware of
these conflicting titles and dates, and avoid future confusion on a subject that
is already opaque in itself.
Clearly, we are dealing with another case here where it is difficult to discern facts from prop-
aganda and to establish a clear chronology of events. Anyhow, it will be the subject of a thor-
ough examination in the third instalment of my essay, covering late 1910 and 1911.
See Berghaus: Italian Futurist Theatre, p. 82, note 35: “I have checked four Venetian news-
papers for the months June to August [1910] and have not found any mention of this event!
This is all the more astonishing, because during the summer months the news-hungry journal-
ists had little to report on and filled the columns with the most insignificant banalities.”
Reproduced in D’Ambrosio: Nuove verità crudeli, p. 163 fig. 14.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 25
ers in the week between 20 and 27 April 1910. We know about this course of
events thanks to a letter Boccioni wrote to Severini at the end of April:
Dear Gino, I am writing to you secretly (!) to hear your opinion on who can still sign our
manifesto […] We completely trust your judgment, but I must warn you that the signatures
must be of young people absolutely convinced of what the manifesto proclaims […] Mari-
netti has sent the manifesto herewith attached to all the writers, newspapers, magazines,
etc. of the world. However, it is going to be reprinted, with the signatures you think appro-
priate – Once again, on behalf of all of us, I plead you to be exacting in your choice – You
see that already one (Bonzagni) no longer signs the manifesto, because he is not convinced
of Divisionism….. This is very annoying because it makes the imbeciles believe that smart
people abandon us!!!.. […] Ciao. Distribute the manifesto everywhere.⁶⁹
“Caro Gino, ti scrivo per chiedere segretamente (!) il tuo giudizio su chi può ancora firmare il
manifesto nostro […] Noi ci fidiamo completamente del tuo giudizio ma ti debbo avvertire che le
firme devono essere di giovani assolutamente convinti di ciò che il manifesto afferma – […] Ma-
rinetti ha mandato a tutti i letterati, giornali, riviste ecc del mondo il manifesto qui unito del
quale sarà fatta però una ristampa in cui si potranno aggiungere le firme che credi opportune –
Mi raccomando di nuovo a nome di tutti la massima severità nella scelta – Tu vedi che già uno
(il Bonzagni) non firma più il manifesto perché non è convinto del divisionismo….. Questo fatto è
noiosissimo perché dà a credere agli imbecilli che… gl’intelligenti ci abbandonino!!!.. […] Ciao.
Spargi da per tutto il manifesto.” Boccioni: Lettere futuriste, no. 1, pp. 17– 18.
See Boccioni: Lettere futuriste, p. 193. After the partial, non-literal and undated quotations in
Severini: Tutta la vita di un pittore, pp. 116 – 117, the letter was first published by Drudi Gambillo
and Fiori: Archivi del futurismo, pp. 231– 232 with the wrong conjectural date “post 1 August
1910”, and then repeated in subsequent studies on the subject.
Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi: “Secessionista, futurista, espressionista: Aroldo Bonzagni”,
pp. 14– 16, summarizes the hypothetical reasons for Bonzagni’s departure as formulated by
scholars to date: unease with the public hullabaloo about Futurism; the dominant position of
Divisionism in Boccioni’s thinking; the uncritical admiration of technology and urbanism; mil-
itarism and bellicism. Actually, Bonzagni’s brief Futurist career, as well as Romani’s, still awaits
a thorough investigation. See also Giuseppe Virelli’s report “Aroldo Bonzagni and His (almost)
Futurist Epoch” in this volume of the yearbook.
26 Giacomo Coronelli
After the poets, here are the Futurist painters. There are five: Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà,
Luigi Russolo, from Milan, Giacomo Balla, from Rome, and Gino Severini, from Paris; and
they launch a manifesto, published by Poesia, the magazine of the poet F.T. Marinetti.⁷⁴
D’Ambrosio: Manifesti programmatici, p. 62, no. 1910/41 (facsimile) and Boccioni: Lettere fu-
turiste, pp. 194– 195, note 5 (full transcription).
Tonini: I manifesti del futurismo italiano, pp. 15 – 16, no. 9.3 (reproduced as facsimile); Coro-
nelli: “Spigolature bibliografiche sui manifesti futuristi 1909 – 1910”, p. 71, no. 3; Lista: Le Futur-
isme: Textes et manifestes, pp. 198 – 202. D’Ambrosio: Manifesti programmatici, p. 60, no. 1910/38
unknowingly reproduces the leaflet of the second edition, issued from spring 1913 onwards
under the aegis of the Direction of the Futurist Movement.
“Après les poètes, voici les peintres futuristes. Ils sont cinq: Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà,
Luigi Russolo, de Milan, Giacomo Balla, de Rome, et Gino Severini, de Paris; et ils lancent un
manifeste, édité par la revue Poésie, du poète F.-T. Marinetti.” L’intransigeant 30:10898 (17
May 1910), p. 2, col. 4.
The Futurist Manifestos of Early 1910: Dates and Editions Reconsidered 27
place Bonzagni.”⁷⁵ In actual fact, it was the Manifeste des peintres futuristes that
offered for the first time clear evidence for Balla’s inclusion in the group; Seve-
rini’s letter only confirms, once again, the arrival of the leaflet in France around
17 May (i. e. the date when it was reported on in L’Intransigeant). This may seem a
minor adjustment in the chronology of historical sources, but it corrects Rovati’s
otherwise fairly accurate chronology of Boccioni’s life between 1910 and 1916.
Amongst the events of 1910, it lists the serate and exhibitions, the Manifesto
dei pittori futuristi, La pittura futurista: Manifesto tecnico and Venise futuriste
(sic, named as in the French version), but fails to mention the Manifeste des pein-
tres futuristes. ⁷⁶
Rovati’s edition of Boccioni’s correspondence is a precious and extremely
useful scholarly work concerning Futurism’s early phase, but also a telling dem-
onstration of the errors that have plagued Futurism Studies hitherto: manifestos
are considered merely as texts rather than print products released at a specific
moment of time for a particular purpose, usually as leaflets in a standardized
format. As my research shows, these print items, or bibliographical objects,
were nearly all subject to variant printings, and these variants tell a revealing
story about what went on in the Futurist group in its early days of existence.
However, different printings of the same leaflet are difficult to identify and
even harder to date. Until a comprehensive survey of all surviving copies in libra-
ries and archives has been carried out, our knowledge of these manifestos must
be considered provisional. Even the impressive collection published by D’Am-
brosio in the series Nuovi archivi del futurismo shows no awareness of differences
between manifestos as texts and printed matter, thus ignoring all the significant
variants in content and target readership.⁷⁷
Documents show that the decision to replace Aroldo Bonzagni with Giacomo
Balla was taken within the span of only a few days, probably between the end of
April and 10 May. It is necessary to keep in mind that, at the same time, Marinetti
rushed the Venezia futurista press releases into press, still with Bonzagni rather
than Balla’s name on them, and immediately afterwards gave the printer the
Boccioni: Lettere futuriste, p. 193, referring to the letter sent by Severini to Marinetti, dated
Civray 17 May 1910 and published in Hanson: “Marinetti Papers: Letters and Postcards from Gino
Severini to F.T. Marinetti, 1910 – 1915”, p. 135: “Sono felicissimo che Balla abbia firmato il mani-
festo.”
See Boccioni: Lettere futuriste, pp. 351– 352.
See above, notes 34, 47 and 73, in which I mention three cases in D’Ambrosio: Manifesti pro-
grammatici where leaflets of the second edition, published from 1913 onwards, are reproduced in
place of the first editions of 1910. Seen from a philological and bibliographical perspective,
D’Ambrosio’s edition must be treated with great caution.
Another random document with
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número dels Cantons fins al de dinou. Los novament entrats foren:
Sant Gall, los Grisons, Argovia, Turgovia, Tessino, y Vaud. Alguns
d’aquestos formavan ja part de la Suissa com payssos subjectes ó
Territoris, quedant lliberats y elevats á la categoria d’Estats
autónoms en l’Acta de mediació, que va durar fins á la cayguda del
mediador.
Aixó no vol dir que no hagin avansat camí. Méxich, per exemple, y la
Argentina están avuy prosperant de una manera notable. Han lograt
establir certa regularitat en la designació dels funcionaris superiors,
la que era causa de totas las perturbacions á que estavan subjectas, y
la organisació particularista, copiada y tot, y mal aplicada, los
impulsa cap al avens.
Las condicions históricas del nostre pays indican la Unió que tingués
per llas la corona, com la solució preferible entre totas las
monárquicas. Los antecedents de las nostras Corts són que aquestas
siguin particulars pera cada una de las grans regions ó antichs Estats.
Pera formar lo cos llegislatiu general, podrian las Corts especials
nombrar delegacions que formessin una Diéta al costat del monarca,
deliberant reunidas sobre tots los assumptos que s’haguessin
declarat d’interés comú. La Diéta, per exemple, revisaria la política
exterior que iniciés lo monarca, y deliberaria sobre’ls tractats,
aliansas y relacions en general ab las potencias extrangeras; fixaria
las bases constitutivas de la forsa pública general; votaria los gastos
nacionals, repartint lo contingent entre’ls diversos Estats; iniciaria
las obras públicas d’interés comú á tota la nació; regularia lo comers
interior y exterior y tots los elements que l’auxilian, y dirigiria los
serveys generals, com correus, telégrafos, teléfonos interregionals
etc., etc.. La Diéta junt ab lo monarca foran los suprems guardadors
del ordre mediant la ferma garantia de las llibertats individuals y
corporativas, en tant que tribunals generals se cuidarian d’aplicar las
lleys comunas y de resoldre las diferencias que afectessin á més d’un
Estat y las qüestions en que un d’aquestos fos part interessada.
Cada Estat particular tindria las sevas Corts que exercirian lo poder
llegislatiu en totas aquellas materias de que no s’haguessin després
en pró del Conjunt, y aqueixas Corts podrian basarse en lo sistema
purament representatiu. Ellas cuidarian de tot lo referent á dret
privat, y dirigirian la política interior del Estat y la administració de
sos interessos, dintre de las lleys fonamentals del meteix, puig que es
inútil afegir, que cada un d’aquestos hauria de tenir la seva
Constitució propia, feta de nou, ó recopilada de las lleys y costums
antiguas, acomodadas á las necessitats é interessos d’avuy.
Las grans regions, donchs, deurian ser las pedras angulars del edifici
del particularisme. En ellas podria carregarse tota la obra que’s
construhís. Llur personalitat s’aguanta ferma y robusta entre mitj de
las runas que per tot arreu ha fet l’unitarisme. Las grans regions que
formaren la antigua Confederació aragonesa se conservan en tan bon
estat, que ni tant sóls fora necessari procedir á fitarlas de nou. Las de
la corona castellana, veritat es que no están tan desllindadas ni gosan
de tanta salut y robustés; pero, aixis y tot, conservan los aparells y
conductes necessaris pera que per ells pugui tornar á circularhi la
sanch, al recobrar la vida que avuy los manca.