Futurist 1931

This Futurist work was made by Bruno Munari, likely using gouache or tempera paint on paper. Munari’s choice of media is important. Unlike oil paint, which allows for seamless blending, gouache tends to sit on the surface, creating crisp edges. Look at the blocky red form of the figure. The artist has used the material's opacity to create a sense of depth and volume with bold strokes, without losing the immediacy of the surface. Then there’s the blue outline: casual, almost like a technical drawing. Munari was deeply interested in the poetics of production, and even wrote a book called “Good Design.” His approach was more about a playful relationship to process than any kind of painstaking craft. What might be seen as a sketch is, in his work, an end in itself. The work is a reminder that all art, no matter how spontaneous it may seem, is the result of deliberate choices made with materials and processes, and it is these decisions that ultimately shape our understanding of the artwork.