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Tullio Crali

the ultimate Futurist Aeropainter

by Bob Osborn

left: Nose Dive on the City - Oil on plywood (1200 x 1400) - (1939) right: the Conquest of Space

After the Great War the first phase of Futurism was over. It seemed, perhaps, that the inventive spark had all but gone from Futurism - after all, times had changed and the Futurists, while still polemic, had lost that sharp cutting edge of the young avant-garde. Indeed, many of the new, young artists now thought the original Futurists to be extremely old fashioned. The original experimental development work had been accomplished for most of the precepts of Futurist art; now the exploration of new ideas in the name of Futurism was required to maintain the artistic momentum of the movement. Thus began the evolution, in the early 1920's, of Futurist 'mechanical art' by the new flush of talent in the Futurist ranks. Works by artists such as Enrico Prampolini and Fortunato Depero typified this new style.

By the mid to late 1920's Futurist mechanical art gradually evolved in yet another direction, aeropittura or aeropainting, which was to be a pictorial celebration of the synthesis of man, machine and flight. Aeropainting, first witnessed in paint on canvas in the aviator Fedele Azari's Perspectives in Flight of 1926, became the central focussing theme of Futurism throughout the 'thirties although the thrill, speed, danger and modernity of flight as a Futurist theme had first appeared in the book Airplanes (1910) by Paolo Buzzi. Marinetti and Mino Somenzi in the 1929 Manifesto of Aeropittura (which was also signed by Balla, Prampolini, Depero, Dottori, Fillia, Benedetta, Tato and Rosso) codified aeropainting. Initially aeropainting was an extension of mechanical art - seen for example in the early work of Tullio Crali, Ernesto Thayaht, Giulio d’Anna, Osvaldo Peruzzi, et al. It also gradually branched towards the "cosmic idealism" of Prampolini - represented for example by his Cosmic Motherhood and Cloud Diver (both 1930) and Fillia's Aeropainting (1931). A move towards a celebration of aerial fantasy, exemplified by works such as Benedetta's Scorched Summits of Solitude (1936) and Propellers Celebrating (1940) by Leandra Angelucci-Cominazzini, categorised another division of aeropainting. The final separation of aeropittura development was the dizzying celebration of flight and the machine perhaps best captured in a whirling realism by Crali in such works as Nose Dive on the City (1939) or Dogfight (1936-8). A wealth of Futurists created aeropittura works and some, such as Fillia, Dottori and Tato created very successful aeropaintings. Crali, however, fusing his personal, exhilarating experiences of flight with an art of pin-sharp pragmatism was to achieve spectacular images that conveyed the very essence of man and machine in flight.

Tullio Crali was born in Igalo, Dalmatia (now Croatia) in 1910 but, within months of his birth, the family moved to Zara where he lived until 1920. He completed technical school training as an architect, and was a self-taught painter. He was initially influenced by works of dynamic composition by Enrico Prampolini that he saw in a Neapolitan journal. He avidly read articles by FT Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni and Aldo Palazzeschi, and made his first contacts with the Trieste/Gorizia Futurists in 1925, joining them in 1929. Aeroplanes influenced Crali at an early age. In an interview he gave in later life he said "An aeroplane entered my life when I was nine years old. I was living in Zara and the war had just ended. An Italian seaplane landed just in front of my house and I saw it coming down from the sky like a great bird to lie down on the waves, rocking and being tossed about by the ever-restless sea. That vision impressed itself on my memory. Still now, as soon as I close my eyes, I see again the small seaplane that danced on the water to attract my attention, as though it had purposefully come to Zara just for me."

In 1928 he had his first taste of flying and was immediately captivated. The synthesis of speed, aerial mechanisation and the acrobatics of aerial warfare were to become a passion in his aeropaintings. With works such as Aerial Squadron and Aerial Duel (both 1929), Crali began working in the form of aeropainting rooted in ‘mechanical art’ and several works from this early part of his aeropainting oeuvre often attain an appearance almost indistinguishable to any number of works by Prampolini, Fillia, Delle Site or Oriani. Crali, however, began to develop his aeropaintings with the addition of more realistic elements. Tricolor Wings and Aerial Acrobatics (both 1932), for example, are typically flat, two-dimensional pieces often incorporating stylised aeroplanes against a background of equally stylised clouds that could also be interpreted as hazy coastal landscapes far below. Typically, they generally give an impression of flight due to their arrangement on the canvas of a combination of pictorial elements that are suggestive of flying.

For Crali the early 1930’s were a period of great artistic activity, not just with his aeropaintings but also across a spectrum of interests including plastic synthesis, theatre design, fashion design and architecture. In 1930 he exhibited his first Futurist paintings and wire sculptures in Gorizia. He extended his contacts with other Futurists, particularly with Dormal of the Padua group. In 1931 he met FT Marinetti for the first time and a life-long friendship began. He exhibited at Padua and Rome and contributed to exhibitions of aeropainting at Trieste, Milan and Bologna. Crali explored new forms of avant-garde theatre and film-set design - drawing set design sketches for what he called "theatrical syntheses". There was also work in the architectural planning of air terminals, fashion design and the production of mixed media pieces. In order to earn a living, he also began working in graphic design and advertising. The following year he exhibited at Padua and Turin as well as in aeropainting exhibitions in Paris and Brussels. His interests in fashion design increased, with designs for feminine fashions as well as his famous “anti-tie” shirt and the jacket he designed without lapels, pockets or buttons. Some of his aeropainting works of this period, such as “Man and the Cosmos” (1933), briefly flirted with Prampolini’s "cosmic idealism" although still very much stamped with Crali’s personal style. In 1933 he exhibited at the Futurist Exhibition of Cinema Scenography in Rome and took part in exhibitions of aeropainting at Milan, Athens, Rome, Naples and Livorno. He spoke on “Man and the Machine” at the Second Futurist Conference in Milan. In Rome he achieved a teaching certificate in design and art history. He participated in the 19th Venice Biennial in 1934 with Revolution of the Worlds and also took part in an exhibition of Plastic Murals in Genoa with a schema of mixed media decoration for an airport. Crali also began to compose parolibera or 'freeword' poetry. The following year he exhibited at the Rome Biennale and gave a talk entitled “Art - Science ­ Speed” at Trieste.

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