Enrico Prampolini (Modena 1894 - Rome 1956)

Enrico Prampolini was born in Modena in 1894 and died in Rome in 1956. He was trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome but interrupted his studies to concentrate on Futurism to which he remained faithful all his life. He frequented Balla’s studio and in 1914 he held his first exhibition at the Galleria Sprovieri in Rome. Besides his artistic production, he was also involved in promotional activities, developing a network of relations with many of the leading artists of the international Avant-Garde. He developed his own vision of cosmic dynamism alongside the Futurist Aeropittura but found wider implications and points of contact with Surrealism. He became interested in theatre and stage design starting with the poster Scenotecnica futurista in 1915, he published various posters such as Cromofonia in 1913, Estetica della macchina in 1922, and Dalla pittura murale alle composizini polimateriche in 1934.
This mixed media art, which he named Polimaterismo, advanced the research into materials already begun by Boccioni in sculpture and Balla, by introducing some extra-pictorial elements of extremely different kinds into his paintings, opening up a line of research into which Alberto Burri would introduce himself in the 1950s, an artist with whom he had been in contact in the early years of his work in Rome.
Ungaretti defined Prampolini as “a pioneer in the history of experimental art”, and he did in fact have a central role in developing the Italian Avant-Garde even in the interwar years when there was little interest in it.