Giacomo Balla
Abstract Speed + Sound
1913–14
Not on View
The museum will be closed on Tuesday, December 24, and on December 25, but will be exceptionally open on Tuesday, December 31.
Giacomo Balla was born in Turin on July 18, 1871. In 1891 he studied briefly at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti and the Liceo Artistico of Turin and exhibited for the first time under the aegis of the Società Promotrice di Belle Arti in the same city. He studied at the University of Turin with Cesare Lombroso around 1892. In 1895 Balla moved to Rome, where he worked for several years as an illustrator, caricaturist, and portrait painter. In 1899 his work was included in the Venice Biennale and in the Esposizione Internazionale di Belle Arti at the galleries of the Società degli Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti in Rome, where he exhibited regularly for the following ten years.
In 1900 Balla spent seven months in Paris as an assistant to illustrator Serafino Macchiati. In 1903 he began to instruct Gino Severini and Umberto Boccioni in divisionist painting techniques. In 1903 his work was exhibited at the Esposizione internazionale d’arte della città di Venezia and and at the Glaspalast in Munich in 1903 and 1904. In 1904 Balla's work was included in the Internationale Kunstausstellung in Düsseldorf, and in 1909 he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. Balla signed the Manifesto tecnico della pittura futurista of 1910 with Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, and Severini, although he did not exhibit with the group until 1913. In 1912 he traveled to London and Düsseldorf, where he began painting his abstract light studies. In 1913 Balla participated in the Erste Deutsche Herbstsalon exhibition at the Der Sturm gallery in Berlin and in an exhibition at the Rotterdamsche Kunstkring in Rotterdam.
In 1914 he experimented with sculpture for the first time and showed at the Prima esposizione libera futurista at the Galleria Sprovieri in Rome. He also designed and painted Futurist furniture and designed Futurist “antineutral” clothing. Together with Fortunato Depero, Balla wrote the Ricostruzione futurista dell’universo manifesto in 1915. His first solo exhibitions were held the same year at the Società Italiana Lampade Elettriche “Z” and at the Sala d’Arte A. Angelelli in Rome. His work was also shown at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 . In 1918 he was given a solo show at the Casa d’Arte Bragaglia in Rome. Balla continued to exhibit in Europe and the United States and in 1935 was made a member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. He died on March 1, 1958, in Rome.
Giacomo Balla
1913–14
Not on View