Giacomo Balla
Giacomo Balla's painting Abstract Speed - The Car Has Passed was originally the right hand side of a triptych work done in 1913. The center was a piece called Line of Force + Noise, and the left hand side was Line of force + Landscape. He uses an analogous color scheme of green and blue to represent the earth and the sky. The pink is supposed to represent exhaust fumes from the passing vehicle. Supposedly, the car is passing at a speed of thirty five miles per hour, which at the time was an incredible fast pace. The work uses a geometric perspective, evident by the road fading into the distance. However, Balla also seems to use an ambiguous perspective because of how the viewer can sense movement in the painting. Actual lines are placed abstractly giving the picture definition, shape, and also adding to the movement of the work. The Car Has Passed is a two dimensional work done with oil paints on a canvas ground and has a symmetrical balance. This piece is on display at the Tate Gallery in London. Giacomo Balla was born on July 18, 1871, in Turin, Italy, son of a chemist and an amateur photographer. He is considered a futurist painter, sculptor, and designer. In 1891, he studied for two months at the Academia Albert . . .
He stayed in Paris for seven months being an assistant to illustrator Serafino Macchiati. Balla was introduced to futurism at this time. Even though speed is represented abstractly, I can feel a sense of urgency in the painting. Balla did other works in the abstract speed category, showing the movement of other machines as well. Balla was so enamored with these principles that he named his two daughters Propeller and Light. He was considered to be one of the most original and inventive of Italian futurist artists, exploring plastic equivalents for motion. Balla removes himself from the futurist movement in 1930, convinced that pure art could only be achieved by absolute realism. The thought process behind his works can be traced back to a quote from the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting that says "In fact, all things move and run, all things change rapidly. He also studied at the University of Turin until 1892 After 1895, Balla spent most of his life in Rome working as an illustrator, caricaturist, and portrait painter. Given the persistence of the image in the retina, moving objects are multiplied, changing their shape as they pursue one another like lively vibrations across space. In 1929, began to move away from the futurist movement and co-signed the Manifesto of Aeropainting. Futurism was an expansion of cubism concepts that explored metamorphosis and simultaneity of vision. He signed a Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting in 1910 but he did not become very active with the futurist movement until 1912. Balla died on March 1, 1959 in Rome. Other works he did using this concept were The Hand of the Violinist and Speed of a Motorcycle, completed in 1912 and 1913 respectively.
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