Italian art in North London
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In London and in the mood for some modern Italian Art? Then make your way to Canonbury Square to the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art.
The Estorick brings together some of the finest and most important works created by Italian artists during the first half of the twentieth century and is Britain’s only gallery devoted to modern Italian art.
Among the permanent collections there’s work by Modigliani, Umberto Boccioni and Carlo Carrà. The futurist poet F. T. Mainetti is also represented. It was his aim to break with the ancient regime and celebrate the post-war period with visual treatments of the ‘new age of speed.’ In 1909 he wrote:
We declare that the world’s splendour has been enriched by a new beauty, the beauty of speed. A racing motor-car, its frame adorned with great pipes, like snakes with explosive breath…a roaring motor car that looks as though running on shrapnel, is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace… (The Futurist Manifesto, Paris 1909).
Irresponsible showman he might have been, but his ideas and that of other like-minded rebels paved the way for the emerging field of graphic design in the 1920s. So speed your way to North London and be an Italian Culture Vulture for the day. Zang Tumb Tumb!