By Anne Leader
Giacomo Balla died 1 March 1958 in Rome. One of the leaders of the Futurist movement, Balla focused on the representation of light and movement in his works. Self-taught, Balla traveled to Paris in 1900 where he found inspiration in the works of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, reporting back to Umberto Boccioni and Gino Severini, with whom he started Futurism. He remained interested in movement, photography, and science through the end of his career though found himself rather isolated from the art world he had helped to change in the early 20th century.
Reference: Piero Pacini. “Balla, Giacomo.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T005945.
Dinamismo di un Cane al Guinzaglio, 1912, oil on canvas, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear and Gift of George F. Goodyear, 1964:16
Self-Portrait, c. 1928, oil on panel, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi
Abstract Speed + Sound (Velocità astratta + rumore), 1913–14. Oil on unvarnished millboard in artist’s painted frame, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice 76.2553.31 © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome
Automobile in corsa, 1913, auctioned at Sotheby’s 6 November 2013
Girl Running on a Balcony, oil on canvas, 1912 (Milan, Galleria d’Arte Moderna); © 2007 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome, photo credit: Alinari/Art Resource, NY