Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944), a poet and organizer, turned Italian Futurism from a literary program into an international artistic movement. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, he pursued poetry, fiction and editing while organizing Futurist activity. His Founding and Manifesto of Futurism appeared on the front page of the Paris newspaper Le Figaro in 1909, celebrating speed, machinery and the energy of modern life. Marinetti promoted the movement through lectures, performances, journals and further manifestos as its ideas spread into painting, sculpture, architecture, music, photography and design. He also experimented with sound, typography and disrupted syntax in his words-in-freedom poetry. Mafarka the Futurist first appeared in French, and Decio Cinti's Italian translation followed in 1910. The Charm of Egypt, originally Il fascino dell’Egitto in 1933, returned to his birthplace through travel writing, memory and artistic observation. Marinetti remained Futurism’s central advocate until his death in Bellagio in 1944.