Giacomo Balla (18 July 1871 – 1 March 1958) was an Italian painter, art teacher and poet best known as a key proponent of

Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...

. In his paintings he depicted light, movement and speed. He was concerned with expressing movement in his works, but unlike other leading futurists he was not interested in machines or violence with his works tending towards the witty and whimsical.

Biography

Giacomo Balla was born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, in the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He was the son of a photographer and as a child studied music. At age nine, after the death of his father, he gave up music and began working in a

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

print shop. By age 20, his interest in visual art had developed to such a level that he decided to study painting at local academies, and several of his early works were shown at exhibitions. Following academic studies at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and continues to play an impo ...

, Balla moved to Rome in 1895, where he met and later married Elisa Marcucci. For several years he worked in Rome as an illustrator, caricaturist and portrait painter. In 1899, his work was exhibited at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

, and in the ensuing years his art was shown at major exhibitions in Rome and Venice, as well as in Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf, at the

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The f ...

in Paris, and at galleries in Rotterdam. Around 1902, he taught

Divisionist Divisionism, also called chromoluminarism, was the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting defined by the separation of colors into individual dots or patches which interacted optically..Homer, William I. ''Seurat and the Science of ...

techniques to

Umberto Boccioni Umberto Boccioni (, ; 19 October 1882 – 17 August 1916) was an influential Italian painter and sculptor. He helped shape the revolutionary aesthetic of the Futurism movement as one of its principal figures. Despite his short life, his approach ...

and

Gino Severini Gino Severini (7 April 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading member of the Futurist movement. For much of his life he divided his time between Paris and Rome. He was associated with neo-classicism and the "return to orde ...

. Influenced by

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...

, Giacomo Balla adopted the

style, creating a pictorial depiction of light, movement and speed. He was a signatory of the

Futurist Manifesto The ''Manifesto of Futurism'' (Italian: ''Manifesto del Futurismo'') is a manifesto written by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and published in 1909. Marinetti expresses an artistic philosophy called Futurism that was a rejection of th ...

in 1910. Typical for his new style of painting is '' Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash'' (1912) and his 1914 work '' Abstract Speed + Sound'' (Velocità astratta + rumore). In 1914, he began to design Futurist furniture, as well as so-called Futurist "antineutral" clothing. Balla also began working as a sculptor, creating, in 1915, the well-known work titled ''Boccioni's Fist'', based on 'lines of force' (Linee di forza del pugno di Boccioni). During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Balla's studio became a meeting place for young artists. In 1935, he was made a member of Rome's Accademia di San Luca. In 1955, Balla participated in the

documenta 1 The first Documenta took place between 15 July and 18 September 1955 in Kassel, West Germany. The artistic director was Arnold Bode.Ausstellungskatalog, documenta, kunst des XX. jahrhunderts, München 1955, auch als Nachdruck bei Prestel, Münc ...

in Kassel. He died on 1 March 1958.

Notable works

Balla's 1909 painting '' The Street Light'' typifies his exploration of light, atmosphere, and motion. Balla's most famous works, such as his 1912 '' Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash'', aim to express movement – and thus the passage of time – through the medium of painting. One of Balla's main inspirations was the

chronophotography Chronophotography is a photographic technique from the Victorian era which captures a number of phases of movements. The best known chronophotography works were mostly intended for the scientific study of locomotion, to discover practical informa ...

Étienne-Jules Marey Étienne-Jules Marey (; 5 March 1830, Beaune, Côte-d'Or – 15 May 1904, Paris) was a French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer. His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinema ...

.Marta Braun: Giacomo Balla, Anton Giulio Bragaglia, and Etienne-Jules Marey. In: Vivien Greene (ed.): Italian Futurism 1909 - 1944. Reconstructing the Universe, Guggenheim Museum 2014, p.95-101 Braun states (p.96): "For Balla, perhaps the most photo-literate of the Futurist painters, both Marey's scientific analyses and Bragaglia's blurred trajectories presented an opportunity to move beyond his earlier, more realistic works." Balla's 1912 ''

The Hand of the Violinist ''The Hand of the Violinist (The Rhythms of the Bow)'' is a 1912 painting by Italian Futurist Giacomo Balla, depicting a musician's hand and the neck of a violin "made to look like it's vibrating through space"—blurred and duplicated to suggest ...

'' depicts the frenetic motion of a musician playing, and draws on inspiration from Cubism and the photographic experiments of Marey and

Eadweard Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first ...

. In his abstract 1912–1914 series ''

Iridescent Interpenetration ''Iridescent Interpenetration'' ('' it, Compenetrazione iridiscente'') is the title of several artworks and studies in a series by Italian Futurist painter Giacomo Balla Giacomo Balla (18 July 1871 – 1 March 1958) was an Italian painter, art ...

'', Balla attempts to separate the experience of light from the perception of objects as such. '' Abstract Speed + Sound'' (1913–14) is a study of speed symbolised by the automobile. Originally, it may have been part of a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

. Balla's 1914 series '' Mercury Passing Before the Sun'' depicts the November 17, 1914 transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun. Balla created at least a dozen versions and studies of this work.

Legacy

In 1987, some of his artworks were exhibited at ''

documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

8'', an exhibition of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

and

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

which takes place every five years in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

, Germany.

References

External links

Guide to Balla's paintings
at Artcyclopedia
Abstract Speed + Sound'' by Giacomo Balla, Guggenheim Museum

Giacomo Balla's Biography- Guggenheim Museum

Article on Italian Futurism exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balla, Giacomo 1871 births 1958 deaths 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian male musicians 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male musicians Abstract painters Futurist composers Balla 01 Italian fascists Balla01 Balla 01 Italian male composers Italian male painters Modern painters Artists from Turin 19th-century Italian male artists 20th-century Italian male artists

Biography

Notable works

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links