The abstract language in this work is fruit of experiences Pettoruti had soon after he arrived in Italy in 1913 (he had a fellowship to study art there). During those tumultuous years, futurist intellectuals were eager to transform art by bringing into it the motion part and parcel of modern times. While Pettoruti was influenced by those ideas, he did not fully embrace the dogmatism of the avant-garde; his work held onto elements of the classical tradition. Indeed, during this formative stage of his career, Pettoruti’s ties with young futurists were offset by the artisanal mosaic and stained-glass making techniques he was learning and by the Etruscan art he first saw during a prolonged stay in Tuscany. He explored many styles, from naturalist watercolors of exteriors and what he termed “synthetic landscapes,” to non- figurative paintings. The adjoining geometric planes in