Depero in the Trentino Area

Curated by Federico Zanoner 

A tireless artist but also a tireless walker, as he portrayed himself in Diabolicus, the self-portrait set in the mountains, throughout his life Fortunato Depero travelled along routes and explored towns, valleys and mountains, documenting and experiencing Trentino with an accomplished and observant eye: from Vallagarina to Vallarsa and the Cimbri highlands, to Garda, the Valle dei Laghi, and finally his native Val di Non, where he climbed Mount Altissimo, Mount Pasubio and the peaks of the Brenta.

These experiences, documented in photographs and writings, and even in a signature book about the Altissimo refuge of the Società Alpinisti Tridentini in 1914, were instrumental in generating well-known works such as the early 1920s tapestries Serrada, Lizzana and Ritmi alpestri, as well as lesser-known paintings and drawings or works in different techniques, including the Castello di Sabbionara of 1939, in buxus.

Some advertising pieces also made the artist a veritable promoter of the region's beauty and places of interest. His relationship with Enrico Pedrotti's photography shows this, particularly in the serene and joyful mountain views published in the magazine Enrosadira on the eve of the Second World War, when Depero took refuge in Serrada, and the 1950s designs of actual tourist signage.

The artist's constant fascination with nature, landscape and the rural world is portrayed in a body of work that has so far been overshadowed by the more typically futurist work inspired by the artificial, mechanical and industrial universe.

The exhibition, in conjunction with Itinerari deperiani [Depero’s Itineraries] realised with the Liceo Depero, enhances works and documents from the artist's bequest, in dialogue with some loans, exhibited here for the first time. The exhibition is completed by the audio-visual work Depero cammina [Depero Walks] by Chiara Orempuller, presented for the occasion.

Source: www.mart.tn.it