“The Theater of Snow” (1984-86), by Mario Giacomelli. Gelatin silver print. The J. Paul Getty Museum, gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
“The Theater of Snow” (1984-86), by Mario Giacomelli. Gelatin silver print. The J. Paul Getty Museum, gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
Local color in black and white
“Mario Giacomelli: Figure/Ground,” by Virginia Heckert (Getty Publications, 160 pp., $24.95 paper)
by Bondo Wyszpolski
Mario Giacomelli (1925-2000) lived his entire life in the Italian coastal town of Senigallia, in the Marche region along the Adriatic Sea. He opened a print shop in 1950, bought a camera in 1953 and then a second camera—a Kobell with a Voigtländer lens—a couple of years after that. The print shop kept him occupied six days a week, but Sundays were for taking pictures. Despite these apparent limitations (he was also self-taught) his photographs eventually reached an international audience.