Mercurio che passa davanti al sole (Mercury Passing before the Sun)
Giacomo Balla, Italian, 1871 - 1958
Date:
1914Medium:
Opaque watercolor over graphite on textured wove paper adhered to canvasDimensions:
Sheet: 25 1/2 x 19 7/8 inches (64.8 x 50.5 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomeCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
2004-45-5Credit Line:
Gift of Sylvia and Joseph Slifka, 2004
1914Medium:
Opaque watercolor over graphite on textured wove paper adhered to canvasDimensions:
Sheet: 25 1/2 x 19 7/8 inches (64.8 x 50.5 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomeCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:2004-45-5Credit Line:
Gift of Sylvia and Joseph Slifka, 2004
Label:
This large Futurist drawing belongs to an important series of a dozen or more paintings and drawings made following Balla's observation, probably using a telescope with smoked lenses, of a partial eclipse of the sun by Mercury on 7 November 1914. Here the larger yellow mass of the sun is crossed by the smaller orb of Mercury, with slashing diagonal rays of white light, segments of bright blue sky, and the greens and blacks of unknown optical effects. The dominant peach tone, now faded, was once a stronger reddish purple color.
This large Futurist drawing belongs to an important series of a dozen or more paintings and drawings made following Balla's observation, probably using a telescope with smoked lenses, of a partial eclipse of the sun by Mercury on 7 November 1914. Here the larger yellow mass of the sun is crossed by the smaller orb of Mercury, with slashing diagonal rays of white light, segments of bright blue sky, and the greens and blacks of unknown optical effects. The dominant peach tone, now faded, was once a stronger reddish purple color.
