Depero (1892 - 1960), the Futurist and the impact of Futurism on Hungarian avant-garde art, will show at the Hungarian National Gallery until August 22, 2010.
Depero?s name may be overshadowed by those of the Italian Futurists Marinetti, Giacomo Balla and Umberto Boccioni, but he spent 20 years in Rome in their company. In 1915, he outlined his view in Ricostruzione futurista dell'universo (Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe). Writing before the great tragedies of the 20th century, he saw an exciting future in which time and space turned on earlier visual trends.
Depero?s canvases are extraordinarily colourful, sometimes threatening, but always full of movement.
What impresses one at this exhibition is not the radical renewal of artistic language Futurism presented, but the complexity of Depero?s art. His genius shines in all of his work, whether it be an advertisement for Campari, a set for a theatre production or a textile design.
The show starts with a photo of Depero grinning from ear to ear, and each room that follows brings a new surprise. The curators ? Gabriella Belli and the National Gallery?s Mariann Gergely ? show Depero as a painter and designer who mastered all of the disciplines in which he worked.
The exhibition is organised jointly by the Hungarian National Gallery and the Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto with the cooperation of the Embassy of Italy in Hungary and the Italian Cultural Institute in Budapest.
Author: Eszter Götz / Photo: MTI
