Biography
Born in Turin in 1891, for a short period, he studied at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts and at the Liceo Artistico in Turin; in this city he exhibited for the first time in an exhibition sponsored by the Promoting Society of Fine Arts. Around 1892 he attended Cesare Lombroso’s lessons at the University of Turin. In 1895 he moved to Rome, where he worked for several years as an illustrator, caricaturist and portraitist. In 1899 his works were presented at the Venice Biennale and at the International Exhibition of Fine Arts, which is held in Rome, at the galleries of the Society of Amateurs and Culturers of Fine Arts in Rome, where Balla will exhibit regularly in the following ten years. In 1900 the artist spent seven months in Paris as assistant to the illustrator Serafino Macchiati. Around 1903 he taught Gino Severini and Umberto Boccioni the technique of divisionist painting. In 1903 he was present at the “International Art Exhibition” of the City of Venice and in the years 1903 and 1904 at the Glaspalast in Monaco. In 1904 he participated in the “Internationale Kunstausstellung” in Düsseldorf and in 1909 he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. In 1910 Balla signs the second manifesto of futurist painting with Boccioni, Severini, Carlo Carrà and Luigi Russolo, but his partnership with the futurists will not start until 1913. In 1912 he stays in London and Düsseldorf, where he paints his first abstract studies on light. The following year he participated in the “Erste deutsche Herbstsalon” at the Der Sturm gallery in Berlin, and in an exhibition at the Rotterdamsche Kunstkring in Rotterdam. In 1914 he ventured for the first time with sculpture, which he presented at the “First free futuristic exhibition” at the Sprovieri Gallery in Rome. Furthermore, he designs and decorates futurist furniture and designs “anti-neutral” futurist clothes. With Fortunato Depero, in 1915 he wrote the manifesto Futurist reconstruction of the universe. In the same year he held his first solo shows at the Italian Society of Electric Lamps “Z” and at the A. Angelelli Art Room in Rome. His works are also exhibited at the “Panama Pacific International Exposition” in San Francisco in 1915 and in 1918 one of his works was organized by the Casa d’Arte Bragaglia in Rome. Subsequently, the artist continues to exhibit in Europe and the United States and in 1935 he was appointed a member of the Academy of San Luca in Rome, where he died on March 1 in 1958.