Ardengo Soffici

Life & Legacy

Ardengo Soffici (7 April 1879 – 19 August 1964) was an Italian writer, painter, poet, sculptor and intellectual. Soffici acted as a crucial link between Italian and French avant-garde art in the early 20th century. Based in Florence, he introduced Impressionism and Cubism to Italy after living in Paris, later engaging with Futurism before developing his own stylistic path. As a writer and critic for La Voce and Lacerba, he played a key role in the modernisation of Italian art. He was a prolific writer and is known for works such as BÏF§ZF+18: Simultaneities and Lyric Chemisms (1919), in which he explored typography, parole in libertà (words-in-freedom) and Cubist poetry.