Synthesis of Communications: A Spiritual Voice Amidst Belligerent Noise
Abstract
This study presents Benedetta Cappa Marinetti’s Sintesi delle comunicazioni
(Synthesis of Communications) murals, a public commission for the Palermo Post Office,
as a vital contribution to the Italian Futurist Movement (1909–1944). Benedetta (1897–
1977), who went by her first name only as a way of rejecting patriarchal ideals, defied
modern demands placed upon Italian women and artists in the first half of the twentieth
century. This study reaches beyond the constructs of past scholarship, which stressed her
gender and her place among other women in the movement. Instead, this study argues
that her participation in the Fascist Regime, her appreciation of modern technologies, and
her understanding of the complexities of the spirituality deserve more intensive scholarly
study. The following chapters demonstrate the ways in which Benedetta’s depiction of
utopian worlds shows her yearning for a harmonious future, seen through the elements of
industrialization and nature.
Benedetta’s work must be assessed through a political lens, because Fascism had
such a strong hold on her ideals. Through the examination of the socio-political
influences on Futurist art, the ways in which her participation in Fascist ideologies
prepared her for this commission become evident. However, with the added spiritual
values of Second–wave Futurism, her work conveys a vision of fantasy, one that never
comes to real–world fruition. I address how the constructs of twentieth–century science
and technology provided her with a means to create multisensorial depictions of ethereal
spaces. Further, these depictions of technology were often akin to ones of spirituality,
especially through the Italian Futurist phenomenon of aeropittura (aeropainting). The
paradoxes that arise from Futurist work and ideology also manifest themselves in
Benedetta’s murals, which I will show by comparing her work to that of other second–
wave Futurist artists.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- A propagandistic undertaking turned poignant -- Modern technology as a means to metaphysical awareness -- Aeropittura as spiritual conduit
Degree
MA (Master of Arts)
Thesis Department
Rights
Open Access (fully available)
Copyright retained by author