A flock of swallows swirl and dive outside the artist's window. Balla has recreated their speed and movement by placing them in precise sequence, one after another. He appears to have included the rigidity of the shutters to contrast their motionlessness with the birds' continuous movement.
Balla painted a series of swallow paintings during his visit to Dusseldorf from 1912 to 1913. The picture is a good example of the work of the Italian Futurists, who were primarily concerned with depicting motion as a symbol for the dynamism of the modern world. Balla publicly declared his affiliation to the Futurist movement in March 1910.
With Gino Severini, Umberto Boccioni and Carlo Carra he developed the notion of depicting movement by presenting the same form over and over again, like the stills from a video tape. From 1913 Balla moved away from this style of painting, and developed a more figurative approach.
Giacomo Balla. b Turin, 1871. d Rome, 1958. Flight of the Swallows. 1913. Tempera on paper. h50.8 x w76.2 cm. h20 x w30. Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.
Phaidon (2001). The Art Book (pg. 25). New York: Phaidon Press Inc.
2 comments:
Hi there.... :)
Was looking through the Futurist Paintings and noticed the peice that you have used as a background, The young african girl dressed in Victorian aparell. It is a beautiful painting and i am very interested in it. the only information i can find is that it is titled 'Joannepetit'. Can you please give me any more on it. Thank you.
p.s. sorry this post has nothing to do with 'Flight of the Swallows'.
Yes I agree please can you post the info of this painting
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