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INVENTORY OF THE PAPERS OF F. T. MARINETTI AND BENEDETTA
CAPPA MARINETTI, 1902-1965
920092
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Table of contents
Title: Papers of F.T. Marinetti and Benedetta Cappa
Marinetti
Date (inclusive): 1902-1965
Date (bulk): 1920-1939
Collection number: 920092
Creator:
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso, 1876-1944
Creator:
Marinetti Cappa, Benedetta, 1897-1977
Extent:
ca. 60 linear ft.
(145 boxes, 5 flat file folders)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA
90049-1688
Abstract: The founder and leader of the futurist movement. Married Benedetta Cappa, a futurist writer and artist, in 1923. Collection
includes minor manifesto manuscripts, generally typewritten, sometimes translated or excerpted; a number of minor literary
manuscripts; and 20,000 slides that reproduce the contents of Marinetti's five scrapbooks. Material on Benedetta includes
handwritten corrected drafts of her three novels, and a number of essays and speeches. Some correspondence suggests the central
role that Marinetti and Benedetta played relative to the other futurists, whose activities the collection selectively documents
via manuscripts, photos, clippings, slides, posters, scrapbooks, and musical scores
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Language: Collection material in Italian
Open for use by qualified researchers; some material restricted.
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Papers of F.T. Marinetti and Benedetta Cappa
Marinetti, 1902-1965 (bulk 1920-1939), Getty Research Institute, Research
Library, Accession no. 920092.
Acquired in 1992.
The papers were quickly assembled for scholarly
perusal using the dealer's box guide. Brent Sverdloff wrote temporary a RLIN
record and began writing a Finding Aid. Annette Leddy and Jeremy Parzen
processed the papers in late 1994. Annette Leddy, with the help of Jeremy
Parzen, wrote the current Finding Aid, integrating some of Visiting Scholar
Esther Cohn's comments written on the dealer's box guide.
Polemica Carducciana by Ettore Romagnoli (Item #165), is
catalogued in the Getty Research Library's general collection.
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 c. 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.
In 1923, Marinetti married Benedetta Cappa. The author of three
critically acclaimed Futurist novels, a sizable body of art work, and the
mother (with Marinetti) of three girls, Benedetta wrote essays and gave
speeches on women and art and women and Fascism, and was presented in the press
during the 1930s as a role model for Italian women. After her husband's death,
Benedetta continued to correspond with fellow Futurists and to promote Futurism
by organizing exhibitions, selling the Marinetti art collection to prominent
American collectors and museums, and writing catalog essays.
Scope and Content of Collection
This archive of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Benedetta Cappa
Marinetti papers consists primarily of material from the 1920s and 30s, though
correspondence and newspaper clippings date from before and after those
decades. It offers a view of FTM in the ceremonial rather than incendiary role
that he played during Futurism's second phase. Pieces such as "Ritratti
futuristi del Duce" suggest the extent to which he served as a propagandist for
the Fascist government and adapted the tenets of Futurism to that purpose.
There are a number of minor manuscripts on art and Futurist artists, generally
typewritten, occasionally with corrections, and some minor literary manuscripts
as well.
The material on Benedetta includes handwritten corrected drafts of her
three novels and a number of essays, speeches and notes on women and art, women
and Fascism, Futurism, and FTM. Benedetta's letters to her brother, Alberto
Cappa, and to FTM at the Russian Front, offer an intimate view of this woman
who, as clippings in her Librone document, was presented in the 1930s Italian
press as a role model for Italian women. Her correspondence with fellow
Futurists and with American collectors and institutions after FTM's death show
her active role in preserving the accomplishments of Futurism for
posterity.
Various media comprise the archive, including manuscripts, photos,
clippings, slides, posters, scrapbooks, and scores. Through all these media in
combination the archive selectively documents the activities of the inner
circle of the Futurist movement.
Arrangement
The Archive is organized in nine series:
Series I:
Manuscripts and Correspondence of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
;
Series
II: Manuscripts and Correspondence of Benedetta Cappa Marinetti
;
Series
III: Assorted Manuscripts and Correspondence
;
Series
IV: Futurist music
;
Series V:
Newspaper clippings
;
Series
VI: Lantern slides
;
Series
VII: Photographs
;
Series
VIII: Libroni
;
Series
IX: Posters and oversized items
.
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso, 1876-1944
Marinetti, Cappa, Benedetta
Cappa, Alberto
Art, Italian—20th century
Futurism (Literary movement)
Futurism (Art)
Futurism (Art)—Collectors and collecting
Futurism (Art)—Exhibitions
Futurism (Music)
Fascism and literature—Italy
Fascism and art—Italy
Fascism in art
Fascism and women—Italy
Italian literature—20th century
Clippings—20th century
Manifestoes—20th century
Photographic prints—20th century
Photographs, Original—20th century
Posters—20th century
Scores—20th century
Scrapbooks—20th century
Slides (photographs)—20th century
Amendola Kühn, Eva, 1880-
Balla, Giacomo, 1871-1958
Boccioni, Umberto, 1882-1916
Brizzi, Carlo
Campanini, Gustavo
Cangiullo, Francesco, 1888-
Cappa, Alberto
Cappa, Amalia
Casavola, Franco, 1891-1955
Chio, Ada
Cioffi, Giuseppe
Farfa, 1879-1964
Giuntini, Aldo
Marinetti Cappa, Benedetta, 1897-1977
Mascagni, Pietro, 1863-1945
Masnata, Pino
Mix, Silvio
Mussolini, Benito, 1883-1945
Prampolini, Enrico, 1894-1956
Pratella, Francesco Balilla, 1880-1955
Sciorilli, Eros
Severini, Gino, 1883-1966
Tato, 1896-1974
Windisch, Käthe