Futurist painter Gerardo Dottori was born today, 11 November 1884, in Perugia. After attenting the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Perugia, the artist aligned himself with the Movimento Futurista, which he belonged to for nearly thirty years. He was one of the longest standing members of the movement, having aligned himself with it in the early 1910s. Dottori was known for his sweeping, sometimes nearly fully abstracted paintings, characterized also by the use of vibrant colors. Dottori’s works, like most Futurists, was often politically charged. Atypical of early Futurist work, but more common to the movement’s later stylistic shift, Dottori’s works were often also focused on nature and on landscapes.
Dottori was one of the several signatories of the “Manifesto dell’Aeropittura” published in 1929, which defined late Futurist painting’s sweeping, dramatic scenes whose dizzying perspective was usually from above, from the cockpit of an airplane. Dottori was one of a few late Futurists to address religious themes in his paintings, which were anathema to early Futurism.
Crucifixion, oil on canvas, 1927, Vatican Museum, Rome.
aerial Battle over the Gulf of Naples, oil on canvas, 1942, Palazzo della Penna, Perugia.
Trinity of Velocity: The Racetrack, oil on canvas, 1927, Palazzo della Penna, Perugia.
Trinity of Velocity: The Street, oil on canvas, 1927, Palazzo della Penna, Perugia.
Trinity of Velocity: The Finish Line, oil on canvas, 1927 Palazzo della Penna, Perugia.
Portrait of Mussolini, oil on canvas, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte, Milan 1933.