looking for info on a artist by the name of Balla from 1912ad?

Answer 1

Balla, Giacomo (1871-1958)
Born Turin Turin, Italy
Period: Modern World: Pre World War I Art
Style: Futurism
Famous Works: Walking Girl on a Balcony, 1912, Flight of the Swallows, 1913, Mercury Passing before the Sun, 1914
A painter and designer, Giacomo Balla was one of the Italian Futurists. This self-taught painter and designer moved to Rome in 1895 where he met Gino Severini and Umberto Boccioni. Balla became intrigued by aspects of modern life, including the city and industry. In 1910 he signed the Futurist manifesto, but did not actually display his work until a 1913 exhibition. His canvases were concerned with the depiction of movement, motion and time. Balla did not load his paintings with the violent images of industry like his companions, but instead painted gently lyrical compositions. His most famous paintings showed the blurred motion of animals in motion, such as birds and animals. Along with Severini, Boccioni, and Carlo Carra, Balla pioneered the technique of replicating a single image numerous times to create motion and activity. These artists depicted motion two-dimensionally as if it was a series of film cells superimposed on the canvas. This innovative metaphor for movement eventually became a convention in cartoons. From 1913, Balla focused on abstraction based on observation to depict the dynamism of the modern world, with its blossoming industry and fast- paced life. Indeed this new pace of society was about power, and Balla?s paintings were true to depicting motion as a symbol for power. After World War I, while other Futurists abandoned the principles outlined in the manifesto, Balla remained loyal to his vision, and in 1929 he signed the manifesto for Aeropittura, a short-lived movement that spun off of Futurism. In spite of a 1931 shift to a more figurative body of work, Balla is considered one of Futurism's most dynamic and dedicated members.