PREPARE FOR TAKE OFF

Tullio Crali (1910-2000), Volo verso l’ignoto (Painted in 1936). Estimate: £35,000 - 55,000.

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In Italy during the early 20th century, there grew an obsession with the future – with new technology, speed, and human progress. It was an obsession that grabbed the young and one group of artists in particular. The Futurists were fascinated by what they saw as the triumph of the machine over the natural world – and by 1929 one aspect of that gave birth to a very specific movement: Aeropittura or aeropainting. Launched with the manifesto Perspectives of Flight – signed by Benedetta Cappa, Fortunato Depero, Gerardo Dottori, Fillìa, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Enrico Prampolini, Mino Somenzi and Guglielmo Sansoni (Tato) – this new movement proclaimed that “the changing perspectives of flight constitute an absolutely new reality that has nothing in common with the reality traditionally constituted by a terrestrial perspective.” The aeroplane, and the opportunities it offered, became the new muse. Aeropittura: Italian Futurism in Flight, on bonhams.com, will explore the complete ascent of the movement and offer works by key names, such as Guglielmo Sansoni (Tato), Giulio D’Anna, and Roberto Marcello Baldessari. Pieces range in estimate from £600-£55,000.

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“Aeropittura: Italian Futurism in Flight is set to be one of the most comprehensive sales of aeropainting in recent years, featuring works by all the big names of the movement – which eventually numbered 100 artists working in a variety of media,” commented Head of Sale, Ruth Woodbridge. “Cleverly expressing movement, speed, and the wonders of machinery, Aeropittura is a movement which still captivates, and we are looking forward to what will be a very exciting sale.”

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Volo verso l’ignoto by Tullio Crali (1910- 2000) will lead the sale. Painted in 1936, the work has an estimate of £35,000 - 55,000. A self-taught painter, Crali was 18 years old when in 1928, he first flew a plane. The following year, through Sofronio Pocarini, he contacted Marinetti, the founder of Futurism, and joined the movement. Despite his relative youth, Crali played a significant part in aeropittura; his earliest aeropitture represented military planes, and in the 1930s, he aimed for a great realism – intending to communicate the experience of flight to the viewer.

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