Depero Fortunato ( Fondo  1892 - Rovereto  1960 )

DEPERO, Fortunato (1892-1960) - Depero futurista. Rovereto: tipografia della Dinamo Mercurio, 1927.   A fine presentation copy inscribed by the author, in the year of publication, of this object-book, a "must have" for any livre d'artistes collector.   Depero's "Imbullonato" has always been considered a jewel of graphic and editorial inventiveness and a real book-fetish of collecting. The declared circulation is of 1,000 copies, but it was never realized due to the high costs of publication which also included the manual assembly of each copy. This unnumbered copy is dedicated by the artist on the verso of the title with an inscription full of pathos and completely fitting with Depero's work: "A Mario Nardelli - motore-amico con affettuosa velocità ed amicizia-dinamo-benzina-gioia Fortunato Depero 1927." The title is printed in blue /orange.   The work has long be considered groundbreaking and a Futurist manifesto which not only highlighted his immense typographic abilities but also his various artistic enterprises around Italy, including his Casa d'Arte. F.T. Marinetti referred to it as a "typographical racing car" and indeed, it is a virtuosic graphic masterpiece, often cited as a landmark Art Book. Each page is an innovative, dynamic and distinguished type-set masterpiece. The tome is colloquially and reverentially called "the Bolted Book" as it is held together with bolts that could be unscrewed, allowing Depero to display pages as advertising for his own portable art gallery. These 'machine parts' align with the Futurists' veneration of modern technology and industrialization. Mechanical Age pl. 10, Page Design p. 112, MoMA 202.1997.   (242 x 320mm). Title printed in blue and orange, 234 pages with a double-page, printed on various types of paper, numerous photoreproductions, 2 coloured and numerous illustrations (two tiny clean tears to top margin of frontispiece). Original blue paper covers printed in black and silver with metal bolts (darkened, with some crease to margins and corners, the rear cover a bit stained).

Estimate € 10,000 - 15,000

Sold € 16,000