Naples, after Brescia and Rome, hosts an extraordinary exhibition of the photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin, his first personal photography exhibition in Naples. Composed of over 200 black and white works, the exhibition remains open until 6 July at the Museum of Villa Pignatelli. It came from the Maxxi in Rome created in collaboration with Contrasto, the Forma Foundation for Photography and the Gianni Berengo Gardin Archive. Master of photography, known throughout the world for reports and dozens of exhibitions, «The eye as a profession» is the synthesis of decades of work. « Many tell me I'm an artist, but I don't want to pass as an artist, I'm an artisan photographer » he once said about himself. What is exhibited in Naples it is a testimony, albeit partial. In his long story from the post-war period to more recent times, Berengo Gardin focuses the lens on an Italy that changes without getting lost. Human toil, landscapes, workplaces, peoples are captured in their immediacy and spontaneity. the environment, like the lands of Puglia or Tuscany, they are the real mirror of a protected area because it is cultivated, because it allows you to live. To progress with the help of the children sent to study at the University or by the priests, who were also photographed. It reflects on pristine places, not distorted by the hand of man, far from it. Faces marked by the daily effort in plowed fields or to be plowed that the camera brings out well and without the use of color.
Photography doesn't lie
The exhibition is also a tribute to the city of Naples and Campania. The photos of Pompeii, Capri, the hinterland as well as the historic center of Naples or the views of the sea and Vesuvius, give the dimension of evocative and historical environments mixed with pleasure or suffering. A 30-year journey in the capital of Campania, from the 60s to the 90s with Naples cementified and poetic, rebellious and tamed, tourist and lazzara. The aesthetic sense of observation is accomplished thanks to non-trivial shots in a city where artists often let themselves be influenced by the vivacity of the population. And Villa Pignatelli, today a beautiful National Museum, which belonged to the Rothschild family before the passage to the State, it is its suggestive setting. The photos capture the centrality of man and his place in the social space. Nature concretely but in a poetic way is related to «a» idea of photography. We can see "the power and specificity of his way of constructing the narrative sequence, which is not limited to simple descriptions of space but naturally builds stories" says the presentation. The artisan photographer, with his black and white, doesn't lie. Like when he points the lens at the lewdness of large ships in the Venice lagoon, but then next door is romantic and melancholy Venice. The homage to work, to the Italy of creativity and industrial ingenuity can be found in the reportages from Ivrea, headquarters of the historic Olivetti, in the photos of the Milan of art, emigration, workers' struggles, intellectuals: Gio Ponti, Ugo Mulas, Dario Fo. Emerges a Contrasted and strong country at the same time. We are captivated by the life of women in the lands of Basilicata, by the weeders of the Vercelli area, by the revolutionary project with Franco Basaglia and Franca Ongaro Basaglia which in 1980 led to the closure of the asylums, by the artistic cafes of Trieste. Finally, the encounters and friendships with key figures of contemporary culture such as Dino Buzzati, Peggy Guggenheim, Luigi Nono, Cesare Zavattini, Mario Soldati, Renzo Piano. «I met many important Italian intellectuals who became friends and greatly influenced my photography. The most important was Mario Pannunzio». On the Mondo directed by the great journalist, Berengo Gardin published hundreds of photos as he would later on L'Espresso, Le Figaro, Epoch. Il photojournalism as an authentic description of places and events always treated with humanity. Young people and school groups, in particular, should visit this exhibition. We saw some during the visit, but they are the ones who need the "focus" of the Master, 70 years long, to understand what we were like.
