Mafarka il futurista is an erotic novel by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti narrating, in strongly visionary terms, the story of the artificial creation of a character, Gazurmah, by Mafarka, an African king. The typically modern theme of the robot, about which Sassu grew enthusastic when he read the book, is interpreted in monochrome drawings - an example is presented here - which show stylistic traits of Futurism and strong suggestions from the Divisionist Gaetano Previati. Previati’s painting, which was greatly appreciated also by Boccioni, was known to Sassu from some paintings in the collection of a friend of his father, Cassi, who worked in advertising.