Giacomo Balla (July 18, 1871– March 1, 1958)
Born in Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy, the son of an industrial chemist, as a child Giacomo Balla studied music, but, at 9, when his father died, he gave up music and began working in a lithograph print shop.
By age twenty his interest in art was such that he decided to study painting at local academies and exhibited several of his early works. Influenced by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Balla adopted the Futurism style, creating a pictorial depiction of light, movement and speed.
He was signatory to the Futurist Manifesto in 1910 and began designing and painting Futurist furniture and also created Futurist "antineutral" clothing.
