Most of the great movements in modern art, from Impressionism to Fauvism, owe their names to enraged critics who mocked the avant-garde. But Futurism was created in 1909 by an expert Italian publicist, determined to pre-empt all abusive comments by hurling tirades of his own. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti felt well-equipped for the task. He was, after all, a writer and poet rather than a visual artist. And he announced the birth of Futurism on Le Figaro's front page, ensuring his inflammatory message was read by painters, sculptors, critics, dealers and collectors in Paris, at that time the most powerful crucible for modernist rebellion.

Marinetti hated Italy's obsession with the past and was bent on pushing Italian art into the 20th century. Determined to shock, he was wealthy enough to buy space for his bellicose utterances in newspapers all over Europe. Some of his 1909 declarations still succeed in alienating us today. "We wish to glorify War - the only health-giver of the world," he cried, before extolling "militarism, patriotism, the destructive arm of the anarchist, the beautiful ideas that kill, the contempt for woman".