First Mascot of 2018: Tullio Crali - Artist

Cityscape 1938

Tullio Crali was a late entrant to, participant in, and survivor of Italian Futurism. Italian Futurism was a gorgeous and glorious movement that grew from the dynamism of the early Italian nation, but was associated with Fascism due to Mussolini - and so fell out of favor completely after WWII.

Self Portrait - and Portrait of a woman

Self Portrait

Oddly, Crali was not born in Italy. He was born in Montenegro is Igalo - a suburb of Herceg Novi. It is a town we drove through, but I had no idea.

Ballelica - 1932

The painting below is just amazing to me. It captures the dynamism of early flight with the idea of breaking the bounds of gravity. But also expresses a love of the land below.

Prima che s'apra il paracadute - 1939

Art master Crali came to the movement late, 1929, but lived through the war and continued to work within the mode and pressed the atheistic further. I love his stuff.

A much later work

Monoplano jonathan - 1988

To quote a biographer: He is noted for realistic paintings that combine "speed, aerial mechanisation and the mechanics of aerial warfare", though in a long career he painted in other styles as well. (Osborn, B.,Tullio Crali: The Ultimate Futurist Aeropainter at the Wayback Machine (archived February 16, 2012)

He lived in Paris int he 1950s, but moved back to Milan in 1958 where he proceeded to work and teach until the 1990s.  He died in 2000. He never fully left his forté. He first flew in an airplane in 1928, and his love of flying defines much of his work.

2018 is full of trepidation for me. I wonder about Americans unity and community. I am somehow happy to know that an Artist like Crali was determined not to let an political movement define his life's work, but he would continue to persue his art for the love of it - and the love of his country.

We (democrat or republican) cannot let tribalism or political expediency take away our love of America - both the people and our neighbors. Perhaps that is schmaltzy and an odd thing to pull from this particular artist - but that is me.

Links:
A Better Art Historian than I am - who likes him, but is less impressed. link
The Official Site in Italian: link