Giacomo Balla: Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash

                    

In Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, Balla references Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and Eadweard Muybridge's Horse in Motion to create a twentieth century painting that blends traditional oil painting with chronophotography. Balla does this by illustrating the movement of the dog's and the woman's feet in motion along with an oscillating leash that lies between the two figures. In order to show the movement, Balla paints multiple limbs and leash in the given space, and then painting a thin black veil to depict the fast motion between the limbs. 

The irony of this painting lies within its name and subject. Balla chose a trivial subject (the type of scene that would be the subject of an impressionism painting) and focused in on one point in order to imitate the machinery of the 20th century. Although a simple picture of a dog on a leash isn't particularly "dynamic" or the typical subject of a futurism painting, the way in which Balla portrays motion in space and time is new and revolutionary to the art world. 

SOURCES

http://www.scienceandart.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=145:giacomo-balla-dynamism-of-a-dog-on-a-leash&catid=57:artworks&Itemid=97

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-dynamism-of-a-dog-on-a-leash-1912-giacomo-balla-1781174.html