Une Histoire prive: La photographie Italienne contemporaine dans la collection Anna Rosa et Giovanni Cotroneo

Published in conjunction with a 2006 exhibition at Paris's La Maison Européenne de la Photographie, this selection of images from the collection of Anna Rosa and Giovanni Cotroneo showcases the breadth and scope of contemporary Italian photography. Among the 20 photographers included, several artists stand out. Raffaela Martinello's black-and-white images of nocturnal urban landscapes summon a sense of modern urban solitude. Franco Fontana's urban landscapes, by contrast, evoke an altogether more energetic universe, as he isolates individual elements of street scenes and emphasizes their dramatic and contrasting colors. While the Cotroneos have an impressive collection of urban landscapes, their taste also encompasses many other genres, including some striking photojournalism. Ferdinando Scianna, a Magnum photojournalist, has an uncanny knack of drawing the viewer's focus to the remarkable eyes of his subjects, whether they are models or Italian peasants. Even the most familiar work in the collection merits a fresh glance. Mario Giacomelli's oft-reproduced photos of priests frolicking in the snow, shot from above, are not simply exercises in form; they showcase a variety of personalities and idiosyncrasies within a supposedly uniform group. From political reportage to portraiture to abstract still life, this catalogue offers fans of contemporary Italian photography a wide spectrum of distinctive images. (Apr.)