GIACOMO BALLA ^©  

(Torino, 1871 - Roma, 1958)

Signed lower left: Balla

Excerpt from Elena Gigli's authentication: "[...] From September 1919 Balla studied and developed the studies dedicated to the forze del mare, captivated by the waves of the sea in Viareggio. During a short holiday with his family in Viareggio, Giacomo Balla was impressed by the boats on the sea, by its atmospheric variations and its movements. Spending hours and hours standing on the pier, taking notes, the painter sketches the crest of the wave, the rippling line of the white sea foam, the different colour shades of the sea under the sun, the exact line of the sail, the sinuosity of the cloud on the horizon... His new experimentation becomes the subject of the postcards Balla sends to his friends, made on cardboard or plywood. [...] This subject is sent to his friends through the use of postcards, painted by Balla himself, as in this case, where the lines and the text are still present on the back: postal art is born. Six white sails sail on the sea of Viareggio driven by the Libeccio wind: the high horizon reaches the white/grey sky. In this postcard, signed in pencil in the bottom right-hand corner, the painter seems to "promote" his new research focused into linee forza di mare. In the Biagiotti-Cigna collection there are 8 postcards similar to the ones catalogued by Luce Balla under no. 482: however, while Luce Balla speaks of 9 postcards, those in the Biagiotti collection, with similar characteristics to the one studied here, are 8 so it can be deduced that this could be the missing ninth postcard, listed by Luce Balla at no. 482, from a Roman collection."