Piero Dorazio

[1] He was influenced by futurists such as Gino Severini, Antonio Corpora, Enrico Prampolini, and Giacomo Balla, attracting him to painting.

[2] Along with Pietro Consagra, Achille Perilli, and Giulio Turcato, he helped formulate a manifesto and establish a group of abstract artists in 1947 called Forma I.

Although imbued with socialist leanings, the group did not follow the realist social commentary furthered by Guttuso but proposed to reclaim abstraction from Futurism.

As a representative of Italy, in 1953 he travelled for the first time to the United States to participate in the International Summer Seminar at Harvard University.

Regarding this book, reviewer Christopher Masters states that Dorazio advanced his belief, perhaps with a surfeit of optimism, that "abstract art could change the world... That just as science and technology were destroying the barriers between different cultures, so the new 'universal style' would lead to a 'universal civilisation'.

Described as an "outspoken, independent character" who was the "opposite of politically correct", Dorazio's use of materials and colours stayed constant over time.