The humans and their social space in the concrete and analogue nature of the reportage photography and social investigation’s master.
The story unfolds along a path of more than 150 photographs, including the most famous, the lesser-known and the previously unpublished ones: a unique visual heritage, from the post-war period to the present day, characterised by coherent linguistic choices and a ‘craftsman”s approach to photographic practice.
From Venice captured in his first photographs to Milan, with its industries, intellectuals and workers’ struggles; from places of work (reportages made for Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Pirelli and especially Olivetti) to sites of everyday life; from psychiatric hospitals (with Morire di classe in 1968) to the world of gipsies; from many small rural villages to large cities; from L’Aquila hit by the earthquake to the MAXXI under construction photographed in 2009.
Through a fluid and non-chronological itinerary, the exhibition offers a reflection on the distinctive features of Berengo Gardin’s research: the centrality of man and his place in social space; the concrete but also poetically analogue nature of his ‘real’ (uncut, unmanipulated) photography; the power and specificity of his way of constructing the narrative sequence, which leaves no room for simple descriptions of space but naturally builds stories.
header: Gianni Berengo Gardin, Treno Roma-Milano, 1991, (c) Gianni Berengo Gardin/ Courtesy Fondazione Forma per la fotografia, Milano
The humans and their social space in the concrete and analogue nature of the reportage photography and social investigation’s master.
The story unfolds along a path of more than 150 photographs, including the most famous, the lesser-known and the previously unpublished ones: a unique visual heritage, from the post-war period to the present day, characterised by coherent linguistic choices and a ‘craftsman”s approach to photographic practice.
From Venice captured in his first photographs to Milan, with its industries, intellectuals and workers’ struggles; from places of work (reportages made for Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Pirelli and especially Olivetti) to sites of everyday life; from psychiatric hospitals (with Morire di classe in 1968) to the world of gipsies; from many small rural villages to large cities; from L’Aquila hit by the earthquake to the MAXXI under construction photographed in 2009.
Through a fluid and non-chronological itinerary, the exhibition offers a reflection on the distinctive features of Berengo Gardin’s research: the centrality of man and his place in social space; the concrete but also poetically analogue nature of his ‘real’ (uncut, unmanipulated) photography; the power and specificity of his way of constructing the narrative sequence, which leaves no room for simple descriptions of space but naturally builds stories.
header: Gianni Berengo Gardin, Treno Roma-Milano, 1991, (c) Gianni Berengo Gardin/ Courtesy Fondazione Forma per la fotografia, Milano
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"Nowadays all young people write 'artist photographer' or 'photographer artist' on their business card; they only focus on 'art'. I am not an artist and don't want to be perceived as one: I am a photographer-photographer." Retrace 70 years of photography through the voice of Gianni Berengo Gardin, master of the black and white and a visionary observer of Italy. Discover his story, vision and personality in the new "I am Gianni Berengo Gardin" podcast (only in Italian). Click on the photo and start listening.