Futurismo! Parma: Magnani Rocca Foundation Parma Italy

Futurismo! celebrating the movement's centenary is running at Parma's Magnani Rocca Foundation until December 8.

Futurismo! showcases masterpieces by every leading figure within the movement. Featuring over 100 items, the exhibition offers visitors an overview of the entire story of the avant-garde movement, from its roots in Divisionism at the end of the 19th century through its creation, rise and eventual fall.

Futurism encompassed painting, sculpture, literature, theater costume and advertising, all of which are covered in the show. On display will be key pieces by pivotal Futurist artists, such as Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, Gino Severini and Mario Sironi.

The exhibition also charts the creative development of the movement's written manifestos: from its aesthetic emphasis on dynamism in the early years, through its focus on mechanization in the 1920s, until progressing into Aeropittura art in the 1930s, which translated the movement's passion for machinery and speed into flight and aerial velocity.

Another section looks at the role of Futurist ideas and artwork within advertising, with posters, blurbs and books from the 1920s and 1930s, including a famous advertising manifesto by Fortunato Depero, who designed the small Campari Soda bottles still in use today.

Futurismo! follows a string of events across Italy devoted to the centenary of Futurism, which was officially launched in 1909 with the publication of a manifesto by Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti in French daily Le Figaro.

The Parma event is one of just three large-scale exhibitions providing an overview of the entire Futurism movement.

Futurism's rampant colors and violent energy extolled the merits of a new, technologically advanced age. Art historians have long recognized the part played by the movement in shaking up the sleepy turn-of-the-century art world, according it an honored place between the Impressionists and the Cubists.

For more on Italian art visit WebVisionItaly.com's Italian Art channel.

Photo: Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti; Umberto Boccioni - Visioni simultanee and Unique Forms of Continuity in Space