Conti Primo

Primo Conti grew up in Florence at a time when European art was rapidly abandoning traditional forms of representation. Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism and later Dada challenged academic painting and searched for new ways to express speed, technology and the profound social changes of the early twentieth century. In Italy, Futurism had emerged shortly before World War I and celebrated speed, machines and a radical break with the past. The relationship of some Futurists with war and later with Fascism remains an important and debated part of the movement's history. Conti's artistic development, however, cannot be reduced to this phase alone. By the end of the 1910s he was already exploring other directions and later engaged with different currents of Italian modern art. Florence itself had an intense intellectual life, with magazines such as Lacerba serving as meeting places for writers and artists. Conti therefore encountered many of the figures attempting to redefine modern art while he was still very young. His long career, stretching from the years before World War I to the 1980s, connected the era of the historic avant-garde directly with postwar Italian art.