8 Futurist Manifestos
We offer here 8 different Futurist Manifestos, all in French, with one in French and Italian. These 4 pp. manifestos were printed on uniform sheets folded once (leaf size: 29 x 23 cm). A list of 15 numbers was published on the final verso of several pamphlets.
The overall condition for each piece is very good to excellent, most showing a fold line across the middle, some tanning of the paper, and occasional minor edge wear and a few small edge splits or chipping.
The texts were issued in Italian and French unsystematically and often simultaneously. Marinetti and his collaborators exploited the pamphlet format as an inexpensive and effective way of spreading the message of Futurist ideology, which complemented the exhibitions and serata (evening performances) that the group organized. The bibliography complied by Raffaele Carrieri in the monograph Futurism lists 31 manifesto titles, at times omitting titles issued by the Direzione del Movimento Futurista, Milan. In 1914 the Florence based journal Lacerba published an anthology, entirely in Italian, of 22 manifestos, which assists with the chronology of the appearance of the texts. These manifestos, over 50 in number, were written and translated in several languages and widely disseminated in the same dynamic method in which they were created. Cf. also Futurism, an Anthology, Yale 2009.
Description:
- -- Marinetti, F.T. Manifeste du Futurisme. (Publié par le "Figaro" le 20 Février 1909) [No. 1]
[Milan? : s.n., 1909?]
[4] pp.
Published in French on the front page of La Figaro, 20 February 1909. “Direction du Mouvement Furutiste: Corso Venezia, 61” ; with “Taveggia – S Margherita 7 Milano” at the foot of the final page. One of the very earliest appearances of the Manifeste, contemporaneous with the 1909 newspaper versions, and likely the first separately issued. Here Marinetti spells out the broad concerns of his movement calling for attacks on convention, institutions, tradition, the academy, and the bourgeois values, along with the art, literature, music, cinema, dance, politics, and typography associated with the past. An iconic document of the early-twentieth century avant-garde. 2 different issues of this inaugural number, both with signs of wear, soiling, a few splits--see images.
$1100 each
2-- Boccioni, Umberto; Carlo D. Carrà; Luigi Russolo; Giacomo Balla; Gino Severini. Manifeste des Peintres Futuristes. [No. 3]
Milan, 11 April 1910. "Poesia, 2 rue Senato Milan".
[4] pp.
This significant manifesto, which Marinetti described to the poet Aldo Palazzeschi as marking the birth of futurist painting, was primarily authored by Carrà, Boccioni, and Russolo, with Marinetti’s assistance in January 1910, and first published as “Manifesto dei pittori futuristi”, Feb. 11, 1910.
$550
3-- Pratella, Balilla. Manifeste des Musiciens futuristes. [No. 5]
Milan, Bureaux de “Poesia”: [1911].
[4] pp. Signed and dated at end, 29 March 1911 (the rare issue). First published Nov. 11, 1910, in Il nouvo teatro, then in French and Italian in pamphlet form beginning in Jan. 1911.
$550
5-- Boccioni, Umberto. Manifeste technique de la sculpture futuriste. [No. 8]
Milan, Direction du Mouvement Futuriste, [1912].
[4] pp.
Signed and dated at end: Umberto Boccioni, peintre et sculpteur. Milan, le 11 avril 1912, however this text did not appear until September 1912 when it was issued as a separate pamphlet, followed by serial publication in French and Italian. The text quotes in several places Marinetti’s Manifeste technique de la littérature futuriste, which appeared in May 1912.
$550
7-- Marinetti, F. T. Supplément au Manifeste technique de la littérature futuriste. [No. 10]
Milan, Direction du Mouvement Futuriste, 11 August 1912.
[4] pp.
Signed and dated at end: “F.T. Marinetti | Milan, le 11 Août 1912.” Similarly, to the previous no., this text was first published as a pamphlet in August 1912, then as part of the preface to Marinetti’s I Poeti futuristi. The ‘Supplément’ includes in the final sentence of section 2. a description of the technique of automatic writing as a precursor to the method that would be practiced by Dadaists/Surrealists, indicating Marinetti’s prescience and influence in the rapidly developing ideologies in art at the beginning of the 20th century.
$550
8-- Nyst, Ray. La Peinture futuriste en Belgique; La Pittura futurista nel Belgio.
Milano, Direzione del Movimento Futurista, [1912].
[4] pp.
“Dalla rivista ‘La Belgique artistique et littéraire’, Luglio 1912” Text in 2 columns with French and Italian facing. Nyst was inspired by Marinetti’s speech at the exhibition of Italian Futurists in Brussells in 1912. The text appeared in the catalog for the same exhibition in Rotterdam in June 1913. Nyst also published, "Les salons: les peintres futuristes italiens," La Belgique Artistique et Littiraire, July 1912.
$550
10-- Russolo, Luigi. L’Art des Bruits. Manifeste futuriste. [No. 12]
Milan, Direction du Mouvement Futuriste, 11 March 1913.
[4] pp.
First published as a pamphlet in which Russolo responds to a concert attended at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome by fellow futurist Francesco Balilla Pratella, the leading advocate for futurism in music. Russolo is considered by many to be the first noise artist.
$550
13-- Carrà, C.D. La Peinture des Sons, Bruits et Odeurs. Manifeste futuriste. [No. 15]
Milan, Direction du Movement Futuriste, 11 August 1913.
[4] pp.
With a list of 15 Futurist Manifestos listed on the final page. First published as a pamphlet in August 1913.
$550
