Italian humanist photography from fascism to the Cold War

233 Pages·2016·3.562 MB·English

by  Caruso, Martina

ItalIan HumanIst
PHotograPHy
from fascIsm to
tHe cold War

ItalIan HumanIst
PHotograPHy
from fascIsm to
tHe cold War
martina caruso
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published 2016
© Martina Caruso, 2016
Martina Caruso has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
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Unless otherwise indicated, translations are the author's own.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4742-4693-4
ePDF: 978-1-4742-4696-5
ePub: 978-1-4742-4694-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Caruso, Martina, author.
Title: Italian humanist photography from fascism to the Cold War / Martina Caruso.
Description: London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of
Bloomsbury Publishing, Plc, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016003924| ISBN 9781474246934 (hardback) | ISBN
9781474246965 (epdf) | ISBN 9781474246941 (ePub)
Subjects: LCSH: Photography--Italy--History--20th century. | Photography,
Artistic--History--20th century. | Humanism in art.
Classification: LCC TR79 .C375 2016 | DDC 770/.945--dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2016003924
Cover design by NickE
Cover image: Ferruccio Ferroni, Ballerini, 1955 © Lidia Baruccia Ferroni
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Everybody in Italy is a Marxist, just as everybody in Italy is a Catholic.
PIer Paolo PasolInI1
In Italy the fascists are divided into two categories: the fascists and
the antifascists.
ennIo flaIano2

contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction: Situating Italian Humanist Photography 1
1 Antifascist Photography under Fascism 13
2 Photography, Power, and Humiliation
in the Second World War 51
3 Christ Stopped at Eboli: An Anthropology of the South 85
4 Humanist Photography and The “Catholic”
Family of Man 119
FINE (“tHe end”): La Dolce Vita and the Burst into
Technicolor 155
Notes 161
Bibliography 188
Index 199
lIst of IllustratIons
figure 0.1 Henri Cartier-Bresson, Abruzzo, Scanno, 1951 © Henri
Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos 2
figure 0.2 Mario Giacomelli, Scanno, 1957–1959 © Simone
Giacomelli. Courtesy of the Archivio Mario Giacomelli Senigallia 2
figure 0.3 Paul Strand, The Family, Luzzara, Italy, 1953 published in P.
Strand and C. Zavattini, Un Paese (Torino: Einaudi, 1955) ©
Aperture Foundation Inc., Paul Strand Archive 3
figure 0.4 Gianni Berengo Gardin, Untitled, c. 1975, Un paese
vent’anni dopo, 1975 © Gianni Berengo Gardin. Courtesy
of the photographer 4
figure 0.5 Leonard Freed, Naples, 1956 © Leonard Freed/Magnum
Photos 9
figure 0.6 Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, Woman with child (Donna
con bambino), silver bromide gelatin, 1896–98 published in
A. Scotti ed., Il Quarto Stato/Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo
(Milano: Mazzotta, 1976). Courtesy of Associazione Pellizza
da Volpedo 9
figure 1.1 Achille Bologna, Poster for The Exhibition of the Fascist
Revolution, 1932. Courtesy Fondazione Micheletti. Museo
dell’Industria e del Lavoro di Brescia 14
figure 1.2 Achille Bologna, First heartache (Primo dolore), in Luci ed
ombre: annuario della fotografia artistica italiana, exhibition
catalogue (Turin, 1924), p. XXX 15
figure 1.3 School room (Interno di una scuola), L’Italia Fascista in
Cammino, 1932. Source: Biblioteca di storia moderna e
contemporanea, Rome 19
figure 1.4 Adolfo Porry-Pastorel, Rome. 31 August 1931. New ONB
recruits in an Opera Nazionale Balilla campsite on the
periphery of the capital (Roma, 3 agosto 1931. Nuove
reclute dell’ONB in un campeggio dell’Opera Nazionale
Balilla alla periferia della capitale), T. Farabola, Farabola: un
archivio italiano (Milan, 1980), p. 14 20
figure 1.5 Luciano Ridenti, Rice is wheat (Il riso è frumento), Tempo,
8 (July 20, 1939), pp. 12–17. Courtesy of the Biblioteca
Comunale Centrale “Palazzo Sormani,” Milan 22
figure 1.6 Anon., New Women of Orvieto (Donne Nuove a Orvieto),
Tempo, 10 (August 3, 1939), pp. 10–14. Courtesy of the
Biblioteca Comunale Centrale “Palazzo Sormani,” Milano 23
figure 1.7 Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva, Mother (Madre), ante-
1933, silver bromide gelatin transferred onto paper, Coll.
Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Fondo M. T. Peretti Griva and
G. Galante Garrone, Turin 25
figure 1.8 Carlo Levi, Child with goat’s head (Bambino con testa di
capretto), c.1935–1936, Christ Stopped at Eboli (Einaudi:
Torino, 1945) © Carlo Levi, Raffealla Acetoso, by SIAE 2015 30
figure 1.9 Anon., Monteponi Miners (Minatori della Monteponi), and
Interior of a shop in Macomer (Interno d’una bottega a
Macomer), Giuseppe Dessì, “Appunti per un ritratto . . .,”
Primato (April 1, 1940), pp. 2–3. Source: Biblioteca di storia
moderna e contemporanea, Rome 32
figure 1.10 Leo Longanesi, The Italians of the Crisis—Examples of Style
(Gli italiani della crisi—Esempi di stile), L’Italiano (April 1932).
Source: Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea,
Rome 34
figure 1.11 Anon./Leo Longanesi, Untitled, in The Custodian of
Napoleon’s House (“Il custode della casa di Napoleone”) di
Stella Nera, L’Italiano, a. 7 n. 16 (December 1932). Source:
Biblioteca nazionale di Roma 35
figure 1.12 Cesare Barzacchi, Leo Longanesi, 1942
© Marco Barzacchi 37
figure 1.13 Cesare Barzacchi, Little Gypsy Girl and Parrot (Zingarella e
pappagallo), 1938 © Marco Barzacchi 38
figure 1.14 Tommaso Cascella, The Ox of San Zopito (Il bue di San
Zopito), 1941, fresco, 477 × 633 cm. Museo Nazionale delle
Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, Rome © Tommaso Cascella by
SIAE 2015 40
figure 1.15 Pasquale De Antonis, Snake man (Serpentaro), c. 1939 ©
Riccardo De Antonis. Courtesy of Archivio De Antonis, Rome 42
9