The Futurism movement, ranging from 1909 to 1944, originated in Italy as an avant-garde movement that took technology, speed and modernity as its inspiration. Futurism conveyed the technological dynamics of twentieth century life. The futurist style glorified the machine age and war, and favored the rise of Fascism. Futurism was at its peak in 1909 when Filippo Marinetti created his first manifesto of the art style.
Marinetti expressed violent sentiment regarding art and literature, and it seemed that his comments were more about shocking the public than exploring an art form. Other artists who grasped the futurist movement attempted to capture what they called the “force lines” of an item or object. Futurist artists also strove to portray a combination of what they remember synthesized with what they see. It is interesting to note that futurism is the first art movement to be self invented. Famous fauvist artists include Filippo Marinetti, Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, and Gino Severini.
Giacomo Balla
Giacomo Balla was part of the first wave of Futurist painters and was born in 1871. He was a well known teacher in his time and his pupils included Umberto Boccioni and Gino Severini. Balla's early works were greatly influenced by Seurat and the pointillist movement, but by 1912 he had joined the Futurist movement. After 1909 Balla's paintings became more and more concerned with the portrayal of light, speed and movement - this fascination is demonstrated in his works such as The Hand of the Violinist, and the Speed of the Motorcycle. As Balla sought to break down elements such as light to their simplest forms he moved closer to total abstraction in his paintings.
By 1914 Balla was so involved in his art work, and his belief in Futurism that he named his two daughters Propeller and Light! During the second wave of Futurism in the 1920's Balla remained to be a strong force within the younger Futurists. Balla's paintings and sculptures slowly began to shift to more geometric forms, which he would alternate with figurative abstractions. By the end of his life, Balla had moved away from Futurism all together even though he had been an important driving influence. Giacomo Balla died in 1958.
