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30/8/2007

NeoRealismo

Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur

Italy's new image 1932-1960

Fotomuseum Winterthur (Main Gallery + Gallery)

Curated by Enrica Viganò

Neorealism, mainly associated with the films by Visconti, De Sica and Rossellini, was a heartfelt artistic response to the transformation of Italy in the course of the twentieth century. With the demise of Fascism, which had harnessed the mass media of photography and film for its own purposes and moulded a new aesthetic of reality, Neorealism surged to the fore. The newfound freedom of opinion and the need to forge a new Italian identity fuelled a feverish interest in documenting reality and exploring what it meant to be Italian. One after another, illustrated magazines were launched and photographic-ethnographic field studies undertaken on life in the country’s remote communities. Society needed photographs that captured all aspects of life in every situation. The exhibition and accompanying publication bring together some 250 photographs by 75 different photographers, making this the first major in-depth presentation of photographic Neorealism. Six authors chart the development of Neorealism from its inception to the 1960s, shedding light on the reciprocal influences of photography, film and literature.

Neorealism, associated with such famous films as Luchino Visconti’s Ossessione (1943), Roberto Rossellini’s Roma, cittá aperta (1945) and Giuseppe De Santis’ Riso Amaro (1949), to name but three, was a visual artistic response to the political and economic situation and to the enormous transformations Italy had undergone in the course of the twentieth century. In the early years of the century, it was still a predominantly agricultural country with just a few industrial areas concentrated in the Po Basin, and a huge north-south divide. This situation changed little in the twenty years of the fascist regime. Although a few industrial centres were established and many malaria swamps were drained, vast areas of the country remained impoverished and backward. When Italy entered the second world war, the discrepancy between the modernism propagated by fascism and the lack of industrial development became all the more glaring. After the war, Italy changed in little more than a decade from a backward agricultural country to an industrial nation. The resulting rural exodus saw millions emigrate from the south to the cities of the north. They arrived daily by train in Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy and Piemont, changing the urban structure of Milan and Turin. A slow and steady river of fear and hope coursed relentlessly through Italy.

Probably the greatest achievement of Neorealism is that it has provided us with such a detailed documentation of this transformation and the enormous changes it wrought. While Neorealist film and literature have long been the subject of analysis and study, the same cannot be said of Neorealist photography. And yet, it was precisely through the language of photography that this great era of Italian art found its most potent expression. This exhibition and the accompanying publication examine in depth, for the first time, the visual world of photography in Italy between 1932 and 1960. One important insight provided by the exhibition is this: Neorealist lyricism was the result of a concatenation of historic events and artistic impulses that cannot be adequately explained as the sudden emergence of a new photography after the war in response to newfound freedom and in reaction to the dark years of fascism. Although Neorealism in photography did indeed reach its zenith and its greatest popularity in the post-war years, the documentation of reality had already entered the visual language in the 1930s, because of, or in spite of, the fascist regime.

In 1932 the Jubilee Exhibition celebrating the fascist revolution made photography the mass medium of choice, harnessing its didactic potential as a vehicle for propaganda. Alongside all the other technological innovations emerging at the time, such as radio, the rotary press and the talking movie, the regime placed enormous importance on the power of the visual image. All these new media technologies were exploited by the government information service of the 1930s and 1940s as a means of broader communication with the masses. Photographs were used as ‚proof’ of Mussolini’s statements, bearing ‚unequivocal’ witness to the truth and reliability of his words. Difficult as it was to distinguish between information and propaganda, the illiterate section of the population had found a new language that was accessible to all, from north to south, irrespective of their dialect or social status. For the most part, photography was strictly censored by the fascist regime. It quickly became clear what could be documented, and what could not. And yet, inevitably, some things were bound to slip through the net of official surveillance. Photographers, trained to document the ‚real world’, held an instrument in their hands that offered far greater potential than the regime itself made use of.

With the demise of Fascism came the breakthrough of Neorealism. The newfound freedom of opinion and the need to forge a new Italian identity fuelled a feverish interest in documenting reality and exploring what it meant to be Italian. One after another, illustrated magazines were launched and photographic-ethnographic field studies undertaken on life in the country’s remote communities. A society in transition needed photographers who would document all aspects of life in every situation. The demand for pictures grew apace; photography was part of all communication media. During this reconstruction phase, the endeavour to establish a collective identity was a foremost concern, and photography was its tool. The medium that had been deployed so effectively under fascism was now placed at the service of democracy. A social awareness was emerging that sought to capture the authenticity of the people of Italy – a stroke of luck for photography, which by then was regarded as the mass medium par excellence. The need to ‚reclaim the real’, the search for immediacy and objectivity, the emergence of a social awareness, ethnological studies of the country’s regions, such as the south – these were the themes of the Neorealists.

The exhibition and accompanying publication present the visual worlds of 75 different photographers, placing them within the context of Italian history and their relationship to cinematic Neorealism. At the same time, film screenings and literary events will be held, providing a more in-depth understanding of the Neorealist movement.

The exhibition is curated by Enrica Viganò. It has been organised in collaboration with SEPIF s.a.s. (‹Studi e Progetti in Fotografia›), Turin, and La Fábrica, Madrid. An authoritative book will be published by Christoph Merian Verlag (the Italian original was published by Admira Edizioni) to accompany the exhibition.

UBS AG – Main sponsor of the exhibition and the book

A film programme (in collaboration with the Filmfoyer Winterthur) and a literature programme (in collaboration with the Literaturhaus Zürich) will accompany the exhition. Further details: www.fotomuseum.ch / EVENTS

Publication: "NeoRealismo – Die neue Fotografie in Italien 1932-1960“. Ed. Enrica Viganò, published at Fotomuseum Winterthur and Christoph Merian Verlag. With texts by Enrica Viganò, Giuseppe Pinna, Gian Piero Brunetta and Bruno Falcetto, and an extensive lexicon put together by Enrico Manfredini and a chronology by Fabio Amodeo. 340 pages, 250 Duplex-illustrations of 75 photographers, format 24,5 x 30 cm, hardcover, bound.
Price: CHF 69.- (CHF 78.- in bookstores)

For further information and press material please contact Therese Seeholzer, seeholzer@fotomuseum.ch, Tel. +41 (0)52 234 10 63, Fax +41 (0)52 233 60 97

Image: Mario De Biasi, Gli italiani si voltano, Milan 1954
(Italians turn their heads). Gelatin-silver print, 30,7 x 40,5 cm © Mario De Biasi

Opening: Friday, 31st August 2007, 6 to 9 p.m.

Fotomuseum Winterthur
Grüzenstrasse 44 + 45 CH-8400 Winterthur (Zürich)

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