(4 of 4)
The centenary of Marinetti's birth was all but ignored in Italy in 1976; at that time no cultural institution wanted to touch the hot potato of futurism and Fascism. This show fumbles it by exhaustively displaying one and scanting the other. The reason probably lies in the facts of patronage. Palazzo Grassi is Fiat's gift to Venice; Fiat built cars, trucks and aircraft for Mussolini. It was the chief corporate patron, if one may so put it, of the futurist idea of war as ultimate artwork. Rarely has the tact of art historians about the messy history of the real world seemed more strained. That, but that alone, prevents this admirable show from being truly definitive.