Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso (1876—1944) Italian author best known as the founder of Futurism. He shot to international prominence when his short and provocative text ‘The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism’ was published on the front page of the French daily newspaper Le Figaro in 1909. It celebrated art as violence, cruelty, and injustice; it called for the destruction of museums and libraries; and it glorified war as a kind of cultural hygiene. His reputation is, however, more than a little tarnished by his enthusiastic, albeit idealistic, support for Mussolini’s fascist regime. He even tried, unsuccessfully, to make Futurism the official art of Italian fascism. Today Marinetti is generally remembered, particularly by Paul Virilio, as a prophet of speed. Further Reading: C. Poggi Inventing Futurism: The Art and Politics of Artificial Optimism (2009).