The Italian painter Giacomo Balla (1871-1958) was one of the founders of Futurism, an Italian art movement.
Giacomo Balla was born on July 24, 1871 in Turin. He was already appreciated as an academic painter when he first encountered impressionist and pointillist painting during a visit to Paris at the turn of the century. Once back in Rome he enthusiastically imparted his new post-impressionist theories to the painters Gino Severini and Umberto Boccioni. The poet FT Marinetti converted Balla into futurism.
Although Balla was one of the five painters who signed the 1910 Futurist Manifesto, he did not take part (although his name appeared in the catalogue) in the important Futurist painting exhibition in Paris in 1912.
During the 1920s Balla remained faithful to the Futurist movement. Subsequently he painted figurative compositions and abstract studies. What he aimed for as a mature artist was a synthesis of physical movement and emotional and mental attitudes. Balla lived most of his life in Rome, where he died on March 6, 1958.
Investment value for works between 1910 and 1930 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – for works made after ⭐️⭐️. However, it remains interesting to evaluate the purchase, as the proposed price can be considered decidedly lower than the real value. Consider that the value had an increase from 2000 to 2008 (see top lot below) and then restored to the previous values.
How much is his work worth?
Some awards 2019/2018
“Spiritual scene (man and woman in fluid permeated with light)”, c.1925/30 – Oil/cardboard (33,2 x 20,3 cm)
Clearing price: €25.000 Price including charges: €31.250 Estimate: €10.000 – €15.000 Il Ponte Casa D'aste Srl, 10/12/2019Milan, Italy. Signed lower left.
prismatic motif, 1925/29 – Tempera/papier/toile (24,5 x 34,5 cm)
Clearing price: €17.000 Estimate: €15.000 – €25.000 Farsetti, 30/11/2019Prato PO, Italy
Inscribed stamp lower rightOrigin: Casa Balla, Rome - Private collection, Milan - Private collectionExposure: James Balla. The new way 1920-1929, curated by Elena Gigli, Farsettiarte, Cortina d'Ampezzo, 27 December 2014 – 10 January 2015, then Milan, 22 January – 28 February 2015, cat. no. 16, illustrated in color.
Summer Landscape (Villa Borghese), 1926 – Oil/panel (125 x 125 cm)
Clearing price: €245.000 Price including expenses: €302.200 Estimate: €180.000 – €220.000 Dorotheum, 26/11/2019Vienna, Austria
Signed « FUTURBALLA »Notes: Fiori-Gambillo, II, 358Origin: Atelier Balla, Rome (listed in the family notebook under the number 228, original handwritten label on the reverse); Acquired from the daughters of the artist in 1971; by the present owner and then by inheritance; Private Collection, Italy.
Dusseldorf window, 1912 – Oil/panel (28,2 x 34,9 cm)
Clearing price: €500.000 Price including expenses: €617.500 Estimate: €70.000 – €100.000 Pandolfini Auction House, 29/10/2019Milan, Italy
Signed lower right Notes: M. Fagiolo dell'Arco in Giacomo Balla: thirty examples, exhibition catalog (Galleria Martano, Turin, 8 – 31 May 1974) edited by M. Fagiolo dell'Arco, Turin 1974, p. 8, fig. 5Origin: Rome, Casa Balla (Agenda n. 805: «My room […] 1912 oil on panel signed lower right 28½ x 35 cm»)Exposure: Futureballa. Life, light, speed, Ferrero Foundation, Alba, 29 October 2016-2017, n. 24, reproduced p. 81 (plate on the back).
Pattern with the word tak, 1922 – Oil/panel (27,4 x 32,6 cm)
Clearing price: €35.576 ($40.000) Price including charges: €44.470 ($50.000) Estimate: €35.576 – €53.364 ($40.000 – $60.000 ) Christie's , 12/11/2018 New York, United States
Signed “Balla” top right Notes: List 754Origin: Private collection, United States (by 1982). Acquired by the late owners, by 1997.
Among the Top Lots we point out:
injection of futurism, c.1918 – Oil/canvas (84,5 x 118,2 cm)
Price including charges: €2.759.528 ($2.860.000) Estimate: €2.894.610 – €3.859.480 ($3.000.000 – $4.000.000 ) Sotheby's, 16/05/1990New York, United States
Signed TitleNotes: [List 628] List 628Origin: Lydia Winston Malbin.
little girl with hoop, c.1918 – Oil/canvas (49,6 x 60 cm)
Clearing price: €350.000 Estimate: €350.000 – €450.000 Christie's, 24/05/2005Milan, Italy
Signed «Futur Balla» lower leftNotes: Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne, 1972, No.23.
iridescent interpenetration, eucalyptus, 1914 Oil/canvas (100,2 x 120,5 cm)
Clearing price: €1.500.000 Price including expenses: €1.745.000 Estimate: €800.000 – €1.200.000 Christie's Paris & Pierre Bergé , 23/02/2009Paris, France
Signed dated “Balla” lower leftNotes: List 1087Origin: Collection Y.Saint Laurent & P.Berg
