Giacomo Balla Swifts: Paths of Movement + Dynamic Sequences 1913

  • Not on view

Transfixed by speed and dynamic motion, Balla learned how to portray movement in his paintings by looking to photography. During prior decades, Étienne-Jules Marey had developed a photographic technique that captured motion through multiple exposures. His photographs of birds in flight directly influenced Balla’s painting, with its curved arcs evoking the rhythmic flapping of wings. Artists and scientists seeking to understand bodily movement would later use Marey’s method to capture humans in motion.

Gallery label from 2022
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
38 1/8 x 47 1/4" (96.8 x 120 cm)
Credit
Purchase
Object number
272.1949
Copyright
© 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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Provenance Research Project

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1913 - 1948 (?), Giacomo Balla, Rome.
May 1948, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchased through Laurance P. Roberts (Director of the American Academy, Rome) probably from the artist.

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