Jump to content

Mario Giacomelli: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→‎Scanno Boy: expanding article with section 'technique'
Line 16: Line 16:


In 2013 the boy was revealed by [[:it:Simona Guerra|Simona Guerra]], researcher and niece of Mario Giacomelli,<ref name="simona-guerra">[http://www.simonaguerra.com/eng/index.htm The Scanno Boy Finally has a Name]" Simona Guerra, 23 November 2013. Accessed 15 July 2017</ref> to be Claudio De Cola, and on October 19th, 1957, he was exiting the Church of Sant'Antonio da Padova like the people around him, after the Mass. Through several researches in the archives and in the town of [[Scanno, Abruzzo|Scanno]], Guerra "met the parents of the boy, who is now in his sixties and does not live in Scanno anymore. His recognition, confirmed by himself, was also done by his parents. His mother, Teopista, produced several other pictures "of her son, providing "evidence that De Cola was the boy portrayed by Giacomelli."
In 2013 the boy was revealed by [[:it:Simona Guerra|Simona Guerra]], researcher and niece of Mario Giacomelli,<ref name="simona-guerra">[http://www.simonaguerra.com/eng/index.htm The Scanno Boy Finally has a Name]" Simona Guerra, 23 November 2013. Accessed 15 July 2017</ref> to be Claudio De Cola, and on October 19th, 1957, he was exiting the Church of Sant'Antonio da Padova like the people around him, after the Mass. Through several researches in the archives and in the town of [[Scanno, Abruzzo|Scanno]], Guerra "met the parents of the boy, who is now in his sixties and does not live in Scanno anymore. His recognition, confirmed by himself, was also done by his parents. His mother, Teopista, produced several other pictures "of her son, providing "evidence that De Cola was the boy portrayed by Giacomelli."

== Technique ==
Giacomelli's technique is distinctive. In 1954 he bought a second-hand Kobell 6 x 9 inch camera, modifying it himself to make 6 x 8.5 inch negatives. He was afraid of exploiting double exposure, soft focus, camera movement and slow shutter speeds. His images are high-contrast, the result of overdevelopment of his film and printing that results in nearly-black forms 'floating' against a white ground. In accounting for these choices he referred to his printing-industry and graphic arts training; "For me the photographic film is like a printing plate, a lithograph, where images and emotions become stratified."


==Recognition==
==Recognition==

Revision as of 13:16, 15 July 2018

Mario Giacomelli in 1970.

Mario Giacomelli (Senigallia, 1 August 1925 – Senigallia, 25 November 2000) was an Italian photographer.

Biography

Giacomelli was a self-taught photographer. At 13, he left high school, began working as a typesetter and spent his weekends painting. After the horrors of World War II, he turned to the more immediate medium of photography. He wandered the streets and fields of post-war Italy, inspired by the gritty Neo-Realist films of Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini, and influenced by the renowned Italian photographer Giuseppe Cavalli, eventually developing a style characterized by bold compositions and stark contrasts.

In 1955 he was discovered in Italy by Paolo Monti, and beginning in 1963, became known in the outside Italy[1] through John Szarkowski of the Museum of Modern Art, New York,[2] who exhibited one of Giacomelli's iconic image Scanno Boy (1957).

Scanno Boy

Scanno Boy (1957) portrays dark and out-of focus women in an almost unreal fairytale atmosphere, walking towards the observer with only one single and central object in focus: a boy walking with his hands in his pockets.

In 1964 this photograph was shown by John Szarkowski in the notable exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Photographer’s Eye (and reproduced in the catalogue in 1966). The photograph is also published in Looking at Photographs. 100 Pictures from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art New York (also by Szarkowski, 1973).

In 2013 the boy was revealed by Simona Guerra, researcher and niece of Mario Giacomelli,[3] to be Claudio De Cola, and on October 19th, 1957, he was exiting the Church of Sant'Antonio da Padova like the people around him, after the Mass. Through several researches in the archives and in the town of Scanno, Guerra "met the parents of the boy, who is now in his sixties and does not live in Scanno anymore. His recognition, confirmed by himself, was also done by his parents. His mother, Teopista, produced several other pictures "of her son, providing "evidence that De Cola was the boy portrayed by Giacomelli."

Technique

Giacomelli's technique is distinctive. In 1954 he bought a second-hand Kobell 6 x 9 inch camera, modifying it himself to make 6 x 8.5 inch negatives. He was afraid of exploiting double exposure, soft focus, camera movement and slow shutter speeds. His images are high-contrast, the result of overdevelopment of his film and printing that results in nearly-black forms 'floating' against a white ground. In accounting for these choices he referred to his printing-industry and graphic arts training; "For me the photographic film is like a printing plate, a lithograph, where images and emotions become stratified."

Recognition

Apart from Scanno, Giacomelli's most successful[citation needed] series are The Landscapes (1954-2000) and I Pretini (Little Priests) (1961-1963), a transcription of the everyday life of a group of young priests, resulted from his documentation of post-war Italian seminaries.

Bibliography

  • Ida Gianelli and Antonella Russo, Mario Giacomelli, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, 1992.
  • Enzo Carli, Mario Giacomelli: The Inner form. Photographs 1952-1995, Charta Books, Milan, 1996.
  • Ennery Taramelli, Mario Giacomelli, Nathan, Paris, 1998.
  • Germano Celant, Mario Giacomelli, Photology, Milan, 2001.
  • Sandro Genovali, Mario Giacomelli: Evoking Shadow, Charta Books, Milan, 2002.
  • Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, Riccardo Lisi, Antonio Ria, Michele Robecchi, Marco Tagliafierro, Born in a Ditch: Enzo Cucchi and Mario Giacomelli, ELR, Losone, 2003.
  • Alistair Crawford, Mario Giacomelli, Phaidon Press, London, 2006.
  • Roberto Maggiori, Enzo Cucchi & Bruno Giacomelli: Cose Mai Viste, Photology, Milan, 2006.
  • Simona Guerra, Mario Giacomelli. My Whole Life, Bruno Mondadori, Milan 2008.
  • Alistair Crawford, The Black Is Waiting for the White: Mario Giacomelli Photographs, Contrasto, Milan, 2009.
  • Katiuscia Biondi, Mario Giacomelli. Sotto la pelle del reale, 24Ore Cultura, Milan, 2011.
  • Katiuscia Biondi, Mario Giacomelli. Je ne fais pas le photographe, je ne sais pas le faire, Contrejour, Biarritz, France, 2016.

Collections

Giacomelli's work is held in the following permanent public collections:

References

  1. ^ Pelizzari, Maria Antonella; Ebrary (2010), Photography and Italy, Reaktion Books, p. 7, 127, ISBN 978-1-283-13368-5
  2. ^ Lynne Warren (2005). Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography. Routledge. p. 602. ISBN 9781135205430.
  3. ^ The Scanno Boy Finally has a Name" Simona Guerra, 23 November 2013. Accessed 15 July 2017
  4. ^ "Mario Giacomelli". Castello di Rivoli. Accessed 23 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Mario Giacomelli – Italian, 1925-2000". Brooklyn Museum. Accessed 23 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Mario Giacomelli: Italian, 1925–2000". Museum of Modern Art. Accessed 23 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Mario Giacomelli: Italian, 1925–2000". Art Institute of Chicago. Accessed 23 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Mario Giacomelli: Italian: 1925, Senigallia, Italy: 2000, Senigallia, Italy". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Accessed 23 March 2018.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mario_Giacomelli&oldid=850372889"