Forma 1

Forma 1 was a group of young Italian artists founded in Rome in 1947, in the charged political climate of post-war Italy. Taking their name from the review Forma and its 1947 manifesto - famously declaring them both formalists and Marxists - the members argued that abstract art could be revolutionary without resorting to propaganda imagery. Against both Socialist Realism and a return to tradition, they pursued non-figurative painting and sculpture built from pure structure, sign, and color. The founding members included Carla Accardi, Ugo Attardi, Pietro Consagra, Piero Dorazio, Mino Guerrini, Concetto Maugeri, Achille Perilli, Antonio Sanfilippo and Giulio Turcato. The group remained active, exhibiting together and evolving, until 1961, when it was refounded as Continuità; its example helped establish abstraction as a major current in Italian post-war art.

Defining characteristics

• Non-figurative painting and sculpture built from signs, color, and structure
• Flat, layered surfaces where gesture and symbol replace depiction
• Systematic, rhythmic repetition of forms rather than one-off composition
• Politically engaged stance: abstract form claimed as revolutionary
• Sculpture conceived as open, frontal structures rather than closed volumes

Key figures

• Carla Accardi (1924-2014) — Co-founder; painter of luminous sign-based abstraction
• Pietro Consagra (1920-2005) — Co-founder; sculptor of open, frontal forms
• Piero Dorazio (1927-2005) — Co-founder; painter of dense, interwoven color
• Giulio Turcato (1912-1995) — Co-founder; painter experimenting with color and new materials
• Achille Perilli (1927-2021) — Co-founder; painter of architectonic abstraction

Example works

• Forma 1 manifesto — Forma 1 group (1947)

Sources

• Forma 1 - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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