DOI Artikel:
Thovez, Enrico: Artistic photography in Italy
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27086#0152
ITALY
the climate of Italy is not so niggardly with its sun as are some of
the northern countries.
But things have changed greatly since those days. One got to
understand that even sharpness of detail could not be the supreme
object of photographic art, but that, on the other hand, this very
regard for precision checked reality and killed all the poetry in
Nature.
The artistic movement began to make itself really felt for the first
time at the Photographic Exhibition in Florence in 1895. M. Guido
Rey, an artist whose name will often recur in these pages, exhibited
at the exhibition just mentioned a magnificent set of his Greek and
Roman compositions, and achieved great success.
A start had been made; and the Photographic Exhibition of Turin
in 1897 showed the remarkable superiority of artistic photography
over the simple work of the professional photographers. Neverthe-
less, the products of the two tendencies were still mingled, and in
their judgments juries were often embarrassed by having to decide
between qualities that were purely photographic and those showing
artistic feeling.
At length came the first International Exhibition of Artistic Pho-
tography, held at Turin in the course of the first International
Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in 1900—an exhibition
which was destined to throw light upon the whole question and to
establish artistic photography in its proper place.
As its name indicates, this was the first really international exhibition
of photography held in Italy, and devoted exclusively to its artistic
side. Among the judges were many artists, including some of the
best painters and sculptors in Italy, and their illuminating judg-
ments did justice to the efforts of the Italian photographers who
had to stand the rivalry of the champions of foreign nations.
The five diplomas of honour awarded to the Italian section at the
Turin Exhibition furnish us with the names of MM. Guido Rey,
Vittorio Sella, Giacomo Grosso, Cesare Schiaparelli and G. Gatti
Casazza, and much as I regret that we must needs confine ourselves
to these artists alone, I hope they may serve our purpose as illustrating
the principal categories of photographic art in my country :
decorative composition, portraiture, and landscape.
M. Guido Rey is beyond doubt the most finished of the Italian art
photographers. One perceives that he has studied the problem
profoundly, and that not until he had formed a clear notion of his
object and its means of attainment did he start on his work.
The picturesque composition which is his province boasts notable
1. 2
the climate of Italy is not so niggardly with its sun as are some of
the northern countries.
But things have changed greatly since those days. One got to
understand that even sharpness of detail could not be the supreme
object of photographic art, but that, on the other hand, this very
regard for precision checked reality and killed all the poetry in
Nature.
The artistic movement began to make itself really felt for the first
time at the Photographic Exhibition in Florence in 1895. M. Guido
Rey, an artist whose name will often recur in these pages, exhibited
at the exhibition just mentioned a magnificent set of his Greek and
Roman compositions, and achieved great success.
A start had been made; and the Photographic Exhibition of Turin
in 1897 showed the remarkable superiority of artistic photography
over the simple work of the professional photographers. Neverthe-
less, the products of the two tendencies were still mingled, and in
their judgments juries were often embarrassed by having to decide
between qualities that were purely photographic and those showing
artistic feeling.
At length came the first International Exhibition of Artistic Pho-
tography, held at Turin in the course of the first International
Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in 1900—an exhibition
which was destined to throw light upon the whole question and to
establish artistic photography in its proper place.
As its name indicates, this was the first really international exhibition
of photography held in Italy, and devoted exclusively to its artistic
side. Among the judges were many artists, including some of the
best painters and sculptors in Italy, and their illuminating judg-
ments did justice to the efforts of the Italian photographers who
had to stand the rivalry of the champions of foreign nations.
The five diplomas of honour awarded to the Italian section at the
Turin Exhibition furnish us with the names of MM. Guido Rey,
Vittorio Sella, Giacomo Grosso, Cesare Schiaparelli and G. Gatti
Casazza, and much as I regret that we must needs confine ourselves
to these artists alone, I hope they may serve our purpose as illustrating
the principal categories of photographic art in my country :
decorative composition, portraiture, and landscape.
M. Guido Rey is beyond doubt the most finished of the Italian art
photographers. One perceives that he has studied the problem
profoundly, and that not until he had formed a clear notion of his
object and its means of attainment did he start on his work.
The picturesque composition which is his province boasts notable
1. 2