Mario Giacomelli

Mario Giacomelli (1925–2000), a key figure in postwar Italian photography, was born in Senigallia and remained there until his death. After training to be a typographer, he discovered photography in 1953 and quickly embraced a radical style marked by extreme contrasts, graphic compositions, and an intuitive, emotional sensibility. Straddling documentary and visual poetry, his work unfolded through various series that have since become iconic: "Scanno", "La Buona Terra, Io non ho mani che mi accarezzino il volto", and "Paesaggio". His prints reflect a steadfast refusal of photographic neutrality; for him, the image was a realm of poetic engagement, a space in which the personal converged with the universal. Photographs by Giacomelli belong to the collections of several major international institutions: the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Photo Elysée in Lausanne, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.