Fortunato Depero

"The art of the future will be powerfully advertising art."

So wrote in the early 1930s Fortunato Depero, the futurist artist who more than any other will contribute to the evolution of advertising in Italy. His historic collaboration with Davide Campari made him a true symbol of the new industrial culture.

Painter, sculptor, set designer, costume designer and graphic designer, Depero remodeled the concept of lettering and illustration with the aim to obtain the strongest visual impact and create posters and billboards that immediately polarized attention.

Depero's advertising revolution shaped the collaborations with important Italian companies such as Magnesia and Acqua San Pellegrino, Strega liqueur, Schering pharmaceutical, and above all with Campari, for which he also designed the iconic bottle in the shape of an inverted goblet in 1932, confirming himself as a precursor of product marketing and branding as we know them today.

Depero revised and reshaped the canons of poster, focusing on visual immediacy, essentiality of forms and strength of the typeface. His gritty, aggressive and explosive style, characterized by bold coloristic combinations of spot colors, still makes him a source of inspiration for contemporary designers today.