Gerardo Dottori biography

Gerardo Dottori, born in Perugia on November 11, 1884, was an Italian painter among the leading exponents of the Italian Futurist movement. The firstborn son of Ezio, a mattress craftsman, and Colomba Luisa Gambini, who died prematurely when Gerardo was only eight years old, he grew up in a family of humble origins.
His artistic training began very young at the Academy of Fine Arts of Perugia, where he attended evening courses. During this period, Gerardo Dottori also worked in an antique and restoration shop run by Mariano Rocchi, an environment that allowed him to refine his artistic skills. Between 1906 and 1907, he temporarily moved to Milan to work as a decorator, then returned to academic studies and began frequenting avant-garde artistic circles in Florence.
In 1910, Gerardo Dottori began his collaboration with the magazine La Difesa dell'Arte, marking an important first step in his career. The turning point came in 1911, when he met Giacomo Balla in Rome and joined Futurism. During this period, he gathered the first Umbrian futurist group and in 1915 enlisted for the Great War, continuing however to paint and write stories.
After the war, Gerardo Dottori founded in 1920 the futurist magazine Griffa! in Perugia, with the aim of spreading the ideas of the movement. In the same year, he held his first solo exhibition in Rome. His greatest contribution to Futurism is manifested in Aeropainting, of which he became one of the main exponents, signing the Manifesto of Aeropainting in 1931 together with Marinetti, Balla and Prampolini.
Between 1925 and the late '30s, Gerardo Dottori lived in Rome, writing for various art magazines and participating in numerous editions of the Venice Biennale. In 1932, he was mentioned in the Manifesto of Futurist Sacred Art for his commitment also to sacred subjects.
During his career, Gerardo Dottori remained faithful to Futurism, even after the decline of the movement. His works, often depicting landscapes and visions of Umbria, are characterized by images perceived from great heights. Among the most famous are Umbrian Spring and Fire in the City.
In 1939, he won the chair of Painting at the Academy of Perugia and became its director the following year, a position he held until 1947. During World War II, he wrote the Umbrian Manifesto of Aeropainting, reaffirming his artistic vision.
Even in the last years of his life, Gerardo Dottori continued to exhibit his works in important retrospectives on Futurism, both in Italy and abroad. He died in Perugia on June 13, 1977, leaving a significant artistic legacy, particularly in Umbrian landscape representations, where he combined the totalitarian and dynamic vision typical of Futurism with a deep mystical and contemplative sense of nature.