Giacomo Balla Quotes

Giacomo Balla was an Italian painter, art teacher and poet best known as a key proponent of Futurism. In his paintings he depicted light, movement and speed. Wikipedia  

✵ 18. July 1871 – 1. March 1958
Giacomo Balla: 15 quotes0 likes

Famous Giacomo Balla Quotes

“Use materials with forceful MUSCULAR colours – the reddest of reds, the most purple of purples, the greenest of greens, intense yellows, orange, vermillion – and SKELETON tones of white, grey and black.”

Giacomo Balla

(Manuscript, 1914); as quoted in Futurism, ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 148
Futurist Manifesto of Men's clothing,' 1913/1914

“In the evening I study a fair.... if you could see the pomp and luxury of the merry-go-round and the stands and booths. Everything is decorated in Baroque-style, all gold and silver; there are mirrors, fabrics, and electric lightning. By night the whole thing is fantastic and rowdy. First of all I shall make a small picture and some drawings for illustrations.”

Giacomo Balla

quote c. 1900, in: Giacomo Balla (1871 – 1951), ed. Fagiolo dell&#x27;Arco, exh. catalogue, Galleria Nationale d&#x27;Arte Moderna, Rome, 1971 <br class="br">Balla studied a fair for his later painting &#x27; Luna park in Paris https://www.wikiart.org/en/giacomo-balla/luna-park-par-s-1900,&#x27; he painted in 1900

“It will interest artists because, in it, I have made a special study of the way of walking of this girl, and, in fact, I have succeeded in giving the illusion that she is in the process of moving forward.”

Giacomo Balla

quote c. 1900, in: 'Lista,' by Balla; in catalogue raisonné, Edizione Galleria Fonte d'Abisso, Modena, 1982, p. 248
Balla's quote refers to a photo of a moving girl he saw, made before 1900 by photographer Jules-Etienne Marey; the photo was exposed at the Exposition Universelle (1900), visited by Balla, then.

“WE MUST DESTROY ALL PASSÉIST CLOTHES, and everything about them which is tight-fitting, colourless, funereal, decadent, boring and unhygienic. As far as materials are concerned, we must abolish: wishywashy, pretty-pretty, gloomy, and neutral colours, along with patterns composed of lines, checks and spots.”

Giacomo Balla

(Manuscript, 1913); as quoted at dekorera.tumblr: Futurist manifesto of men&#x27;s clothing http://dekorera.tumblr.com/post/3212646425/futurist-manifesto-of-mens-clothing-by-giacomo <br class="br">Futurist Manifesto of Men&#x27;s clothing,&#x27; 1913/1914

Giacomo Balla Quotes about clothes

“WE MUST INVENT FUTURIST CLOTHES, hap-hap-hap-hap-happy clothes, daring clothes with brilliant colours and dynamic lines. They must be simple, and above all they must be made to last for a short time only in order to encourage industrial activity and to provide constant and novel enjoyment for our bodies.”

Giacomo Balla

(Manuscript, 1913); as quoted at dekorera.tumblr: futurist manifesto of men&#x27;s clothing http://dekorera.tumblr.com/post/3212646425/futurist-manifesto-of-mens-clothing-by-giacomo <br class="br">Futurist Manifesto of Men&#x27;s clothing,&#x27; 1913/1914

“We want Futurist clothes to be comfortable and practical
Dynamic
Aggressive
Shocking
Energetic
Violent
Flying (i. e. giving the idea of flying, rising and running)
Peppy
Joyful
Illuminating (in order to have light even in the rain)
Phosphorescent
Lit by electric lamps.”

Giacomo Balla

(Manuscript, 1913); as quoted at dekorera.tumblr: Futurist manifesto of men&#x27;s clothing http://dekorera.tumblr.com/post/3212646425/futurist-manifesto-of-mens-clothing-by-giacomo <br class="br">Futurist Manifesto of Men&#x27;s clothing,&#x27; 1913/1914

“As a result we shall have the necessary variety of clothes, even if the people of a given city lack the imagination themselves. The happiness of our Futurist clothes will help to spread the kind of good humour aimed at by my great friend PaIazzeschi in his futurist 'Manifesto against Sadness.”

Giacomo Balla

(Manuscript, 1913); as quoted at dekorera.tumblr: futurist manifesto of men&#x27;s clothing http://dekorera.tumblr.com/post/3212646425/futurist-manifesto-of-mens-clothing-by-giacomo <br class="br">Futurist Manifesto of Men&#x27;s clothing,&#x27; 1913/1914

Giacomo Balla Quotes

“And we must invent dynamic designs to go with them and express them in equally dynamic shapes: triangles, cones, spirals, ellipses, circles, etc.”

Giacomo Balla

(Manuscript, 1914); as quoted in Futurism, ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 148
Futurist Manifesto of Men's clothing,' 1913/1914

“They [ Boccioni and Severini ] did not want anything to do with me in Paris and they were right: they have gone much further than I, but I will work and I too will progress.”

Giacomo Balla

Balla is quoted here by his former pupil Umberto Boccioni, in his letter to his Futurist art-friend (and also former pupil of Balla) Gino Severini, Jan. 1913; as quoted in Futurism, ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 248
Balla was referring to his two former pupils

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