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Giacomo Balla (Italian, 1871–1958). The Hand of the Violinist. 1912. Private Collection. Photo credit: Alinari/Art Resource, NY. Credit: © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Balla painted this work as he was transitioning from more concrete depictions of movement to the more abstract (see the January 2007 cover of PTJ). Here he reveals the movements of the violinist's hand in repeated sequence, analyzing with the specificity of a scientist. The bright linear brushstrokes illuminate the relationships among fingers, strings, and bow; among hand, speed, and sound. Like most of the Futurist painters, he was initially influenced by photography, especially geometric chronophotographs, in which images of motion were superimposed.