Antonio Marasco (Nicastro 1896 – Florence 1975)
Aeroplani
oil on canvas
1928
cm 102,5 x 98,7

In 1906, Antonio Marasco moves to Florence. In 1912, he enrols in the high school for the arts, then at the Accademia di Belle Arti.

These are the years in which he joins the Futurist movement and becomes closely acquainted with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Together, the two men would travel to Germany, where they would meet Kandinsky in Munich, and to Russia, building valuable relationships with the artistic avantgarde there: a valuable opportunity to update his painting language.

Having returned to Italy, in 1914 he participates in the 1st Futurist International Exhibition in Rome. In June of that year, he meets Umberto Boccioni, who makes such a strong impression on him that all of his art from those years is inspired by him.

Marasco grows increasingly prominent in the highest-profile Futurist exhibitions in Italy and abroad.

Between the late 1920s and early 1930s, the artist enjoys the happiest period of his artistic life: the works from this period possess a notable abstract quality, an abstract-metaphysical vision populated by architectural and natural structures. In the 1931 Mostra Futurista catalogue, Marinetti refers to Marasco as “a powerful illustrator of dynamic forms”.

His work Aeroplani dates back to the period of his most important masterpieces, where he achieved his greatest artistic recognition within the Futurist scene as well as internationally.