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INVENTORY OF THE FILIPPO TOMMASO MARINETTI CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS, 1886-1974, bulk
1900-1944
850702
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Table of contents
Title: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti correspondence and papers
Date (inclusive): 1886-1974
Date (bulk): 1900-1944
Collection number: 850702
Creator:
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso, 1876-1944
Extent:
8.5 linear feet
(16
boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90040-1688
Abstract: Writer and founder and leader of the Italian Futurist movement. Correspondence, writings, photographs, and printed matter
from Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's papers, documenting the history of the futurist movement from its beginning in the journal
Poesia, through World War I, and less comprehensively, through World War II and its aftermath.
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Language: Collection material in English
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti correspondence and papers, 1886-1974 (bulk 1900-1944),
Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 850702.
Collection assembled from various small collections acquired from
1984 to 1989.
Brent Sverdlov processed the papers and described them in a lengthy catalog
record ca. 1990. Annette Leddy rearranged them somewhat and created a finding
aid in 2004.
Papers of F.T. Marinetti and Benedetta Capa Marinetti, 1902-1965 (bulk 1920-1936) Accession no. 920092.
Marinetti student notebooks and other papers, 1891-1936, Accession no. 890122.
Two parole in libertà were moved into other collections.
"Carso=Topaia," Accession no. 870379.
"Carte Synchronique," Accession no. 850702.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, born in Alexandria in 1876, attended
secondary school and university in France, where he began his literary career.
After gaining some success as a poet, he founded and edited the journal
Poesia (1905), a forum in which the theories of futurism
rather quickly evolved. With "Fondazione e Manifesto del Futurismo," published
in
Le Figaro (1909), Marinetti launched what was arguably the
first 20th century avant-garde movement, anticipating many of the issues of Dada and
Surrealism. Like other avant-garde movements, futurism took the momentous
developments in science and industry as signaling a new historical era,
demanding correspondingly innovative art forms and language. Like other
avant-garde movements, futurism found a solution in collage, which Marinetti
called "parole in libertà" when applied to literary forms. Between 1909 and
1920, the period known as futurism's heroic phase, Marinetti energetically
promoted his own work, and that of fellow futurists, through numerous
manifestos, speeches, essays, meetings, performances and publications.
Following WWI, in which he served, Marinetti became an active member of the
fascist party; on April 15, 1919, he and Ferruccio Vecchi led the "battle" of
piazza Mercanti against socialists, communists, and anarchists, which was
Italian fascism's first decisive victory. In 1929 he was elected to the Academy
of Italy. Throughout the 1920s and 30s and until his death in 1944, Marinetti
sought to reconcile the theories of futurism with the ideology of state fascism
and to serve as impresario for both.
Scope and Content of Collection
Marinetti correspondence and papers was assembled from various small
collections acquired between 1984 and 1989, originally drawn from the Marinetti
family archive and the papers of Luigi Scrivo, Marinetti’s personal secretary
from around 1930.
The largest portion of the collection consists of correspondence and
submissions directed to Marinetti (Series I and II), first as editor of
Poesia
and later as the leader of the futurist movement and the publisher of the book
press Edizioni futuriste di "Poesia". These letters, together with those from
Marinetti (Series III) to an often unnamed correspondent (“Mon ami”),
demonstrate how Marinetti stimulated debate about his movement in part by
sending queries to a broad range of international literary figures regarding
free verse or the futurist manifestos. He also critiques the writing submitted
to him according to futurist criteria, warmly praising pieces that meet his
idiosyncratic standards. His correspondents, in turn, praise or critique
Marinetti’s writing; of particular interest are conflicted responses to the
first futurist manifesto in 1909. Letters from fellow futurists, such as Carlo
Carrà, Umberto Boccioni, Francesco Cangiullo, and Fortunato Depero reveal
wranglings internal to the movement, as well as the zeal with which they
pursued their shared aims. After the First World War, letters are concerned
with politics, and during the fascist years, many regard requests for
government funding for individual futurist artists. Finally, following
Marinetti’s death, letters directed to Benedetta or Scrivo pertain to
preservation of the futurist legacy, despite the stain of fascism, through
retrospective exhibitions, anthologies, and conferences.
Writings by Marinetti (Series IV) include a few manuscripts from
futurism’s first phase, such as a handwritten theatrical synthesis “Donna +
Amici = Frente” and three handwritten parole, but most of the writings date
from after 1930. These include many prefaces to the books of fellow futurists,
lectures and essays on aeropainting, and clippings from
Autori e Scrittori. Circulars from Agenzia Letteraria
Artistica (Series VII) contain manifestos and declarations in a newsletter
format. Biographies (Series V), either drawn from newspaper articles, reference
books, or manuscripts, present official and personal accounts of Marinetti’s
life; photographs (Series VI) offer a complementary visual summary. Letters to
Alberto Cappa (Series VIII), Benedetta’s brother, consist largely of letters
from Benedetta about her mother or brother’s health, with some details about
her travels with Marinetti.
Arrangement
The papers are arranged in eight series:
Series I. Letters and
submissions to Marinetti and others, 1900-1974
;
Series II. Unsigned or
undated letters and submissions, ca. 1910 - ca. 1970
;
Series III. Letters from
Marinetti, ca. 1905-1944
;
Series IV. Writings by
Marinetti, 1896-1949
;
Series V. Biographies,
1927-1968
;
Series VI. Photographs,
1886-1972
;
Series VII. Agenzia Letteraria Artistica (A.L.A.): Circulars, 1934-1939;
Series VIII. Letters to
Alberto Cappa, 1923-1931
.
D'Annunzio, Gabriele,
1863-1938
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso, 1876-1944
Edizioni futuriste di
"Poesia"
Architecture,
Modern
Experimental
theater
Fascism—Italy
Futurism—Art
Italian poetry—20th
century
Literature—Experimental
Italy—Politics and
government
Photographic
prints
Photographs,
original
Acquaviva,
Giovanni.
Bertozzi,
Renzo.
Bois, Jules,
1871-1943.
Bragalia, Anton Giulio,
1890-1960.
Buzzi, Paolo, d.
1956.
Cangiullo, Francesco,
1888-
Cappa,
Alberto.
Carrà, Carlo,
1881-1966.
Carrieri, Raffaele,
1905-
Darío, Rubén,
1867-1916.
D'Albisola, Tullio,
1889-
Depero, Fortunato,
1892-1960.
Diaghilev, Serge,
1872-1929.
Di Bosso, Renato,
1905-1982.
Dottori, Gerardo,
1884-
Eckhoud,
Georges.
Farfa,
1879-1964.
Goretti, Maria
Sara.
Govoni, Corrado,
1884-1965.
Guggenheim, Peggy,
1898-
Larionov, Mikhail
Fedorovich, 1881-1964.
Maeterlinck, Maurice,
1862-1949.
Marchi, Virgilio,
1895-1960.
Marinetti Cappa,
Benedetta, 1897-1977.
Masefield, John,
1878-1967.
Masnata, Pino.
Mauclair, Camille,
1872-
Merrill, Stuart,
1863-1915.
Mockel, Albert,
1866-1945.
Negri, Ada,
1870-1945.
Orazi,
Vittorio.
Pelacani, A.M.
Prampolini, Enrico,
1894-1956.
Prezzolini, Luigi,
1885-1947.
Romains, Jules,
1885-1972.
Russolo,
Luigi.
Saint-Pol-Roux,
1861-1940.
Scrivo, Luigi.
Scurto,
Ignazio.
Soffici, Ardengo,
1879-1964.
Tato,
1896-1974.
Verga, Giovanni,
1840-1922.
Winston, Harry
Lewis.
Yeats, W. B. (William
Butler), 1865-1939.
Autori e Scrittori Lacerba Poesia