Giacomo Balla

Giacomo Balla (1871-1958) was an Italian artist, a leading exponent of the Futurist Manifesto. Older than the other comrades of Futurism, when in 1910 he was among the signatories of the "Manifesto of Futurist painters" Balla was already an established artist, known for over a decade for his works in pointillist style. Balla's adherence to Futurism was total and enthralling: in addition to the numerous paintings (among which all recall the "Dynamism of a dog on a leash", 1912), Balla was also the author of a "Futurist Manifesto of men's clothing", in which he imagined revolutionary dynamic clothes, and the interiors of the unsettling Casa Futurista in Rome, characterized by decorations with an explosion of brilliant colors that flooded every room. In recent years, the special re-edition of a screen by the Cassina brand was taken from the Casa Futurista layout, which Balla used as his personal home. In the 1920s Balla then designed the interiors of the Roman cabaret Bal Tic Tic and his own wallpaper, before abandoning the futurist style and dedicating himself to more abstract works in which the celebratory intentions of the fascist regime were often evident. Fallen into disgrace at the end of the 1930s, it will then be rediscovered in the post-war period.