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At the time of photography’s invention in 1839, the Italian peninsula was composed of “a dozen different countries.” This political fragmentation is central to understanding how photography was received and disseminated in Italy. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-sulqdk-mcujltt-x/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-r/> Francesca Bonetti gave a long and detailed conference in Italian that you can access here: ITALIAN CONFERENCE PDF <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-y/>. At the time of photography’s invention in 1839, Italy was not yet a unified country, but a dozen independent states, each with its own institutions, laws, and cultural dynamics. The announcement of the invention of the daguerreotype aroused great interest in Italy, in the context of political fragmentation but of great cultural and scientific vitality. This situation of fragmentation explains the diversity of reactions and experiments around photography, with each state or region developing its own scientific, artistic, and distribution networks. The introduction of photography was linked to the aspiration for national unity and modernization, but the plurality of states encouraged a multiplicity of local approaches.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-j/> The invention of photography is part of a long process of rationalizing vision, heir to the Enlightenment spirit and the Italian figurative tradition, which goes back to Leonardo da Vinci. Optical instruments such as the camera obscura and the camera lucida have their origins in the Italian scientific culture of the Renaissance, especially through figures like Barbaro, Della Porta, and Brunelleschi. Giovanni Battista Della Porta’s “invention” of the camera obscura in the sixteenth century was a key step in this lineage. Canaletto was well aware of the rules of perspective and used the camera obscura for his paintings. Canaletto’s city views qualify as reliable documentary sources for reconstructing the urban image.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-t/> Giovanni Battista Amici, one of the leading Italian scientists of the nineteenth century, played a pivotal role in the spread of early photographic techniques in Italy. The camera lucida—although described as early as 1611 by Kepler, was only patented in 1806 by William Hyde Wollaston and later perfected by the Modenese scientist Giovanni Battista Amici. William Henry Fox Talbot used Amici’s improved camera lucida during his trip to Lake Como in 1833; it was precisely because of his frustrations with drawing that Talbot resumed his earlier experiments (first with silver nitrate, then with silver chloride) in 1834, which eventually led him to fix images in his photogenic drawing and calotype processes (as he himself recounts in the first issue of The Pencil of Nature, 1844).
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-i/> Sir John Herschel, another major figure in the scientific world who made fundamental contributions to the development of photographic processes—and who even suggested the very term “photography” for the new method of reproduction—also used the camera lucida during his trip to Italy in 1824. That same year, a portrait of Herschel with the camera lucida was made by G. B. Amici, when the Englishman visited him in his laboratory in Modena. The two astronomers corresponded frequently between 1825 and 1839, exchanging information about the latest instruments and astronomical observations. In February, according to a note by Talbot in one of his notebooks kept at the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock (Lacock June 1838: 48), Giovanni Battista Amici and Antonio Bertoloni were among the various correspondents to whom he sent six copies each of his communication read at the Royal Society on January 31. No further mention of Talbot’s invention was made at this first meeting of Italian scientists, even though, as early as August 21, 1839, Talbot intended to send some of his first photogenic drawings to Giovanni Battista Amici so they could be presented there. The first samples did not reach Amici until several months later. From the correspondence between Talbot and Amici, and others, we see repeated delays in the delivery of letters and packages containing the photogenic drawings, with the scientists repeatedly expressing regret at not being able to show them at the most important scientific meetings, which continued to be held in other Italian states, always with the same ideals and with intentions and repercussions of significant cultural and political impact.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-d/> Francesca found some nice vintage prints at the Fair
When the daguerreotype was introduced, it was first received in scientific circles, before attracting the interest of the artistic world. Melloni emphasizes the daguerreotype’s ability to produce images of great delicacy, useful to both artists and scientists. He also describes the limitations of Talbot’s processes, considered less precise than those of Daguerre. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce conceived in Cagliari the idea of automatically reproducing images, without manual intervention. Talbot’s processes were considered less precise than those of Daguerre. Italian scientists showed interest in the English processes, but complained about the lack of technical information provided by Talbot. The exchanges between Talbot and Italian scholars, such as Amici, Bertoloni, and Tenore, show an interest in the English processes.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-h/> Talbot sent Bertoloni examples of his new art: photogenic drawings made by placing objects on photosensitized paper and exposing them to sunlight. Talbot suggested that the accurate recording of botanical specimens would be among the most important uses of his invention. Album di Disegni Fotogenici <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-k/> contains thirty-six photogenic drawings by Talbot. Talbot suggested that naturalists would find the accurate recording of botanical specimens among the most important uses of his invention.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-u/> The daguerreotype was first received in scientific circles. Melloni emphasizes the daguerreotype’s ability to produce images of great delicacy. He also describes the limitations of Talbot’s processes, considered less precise than those of Daguerre. Italian scientists complained about the lack of technical information provided by Talbot. The Italian tradition—through figures like Leonardo da Vinci, Della Porta, and Canaletto—provided both the conceptual and technical groundwork for the emergence of photography. The direct references to Daguerre and Niépce emphasize the scientific and experimental context in which photography was received and developed in Italy. Talbot is presented as a pivotal but somewhat enigmatic figure: admired for his innovation, yet criticized for the opacity of his copyrighted methods and the technical limitations compared to Daguerre. If you wish to follow on some research topics with Francesca, you can contact her by mail at: mariafrancesca.bonetti@gmail.com <mailto:mariafrancesca.bonetti@gmail.com> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-o/> Francesca ready for the masked ball at Rocca Roveresca
Let’s conclude with two special cards dedicated to Leonardo explaining human vision and Nicephore long holydays in Sardegna, created for the Misteri della Fotografia series ! MYT-7 – Leonardo, Milano – circa 1493 Leonardo da Vinci osserva il funzionamento della camera oscura e ne annota i principi ottici con precisione straordinaria. Nel Codice Atlanticoscrive che la luce viaggia in linea retta e che l’immagine rovesciata si proietta all’interno di una stanza buia. Non si limita a osservare: perfeziona lo strumento, ne intuisce le applicazioni artistiche e scientifiche, e lo collega al funzionamento dell’occhio umano. Heliochromy published as a postcard, mixed media on a digital base: collage, engraving, gouache retouching, and manual interventions.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-b/> MYT-7 – Leonardo, Milano – circa 1493 Leonardo da Vinci osserva il funzionamento della camera oscura e ne annota i principi ottici con precisione straordinaria. Nel Codice Atlanticoscrive che la luce viaggia in linea retta e che l’immagine rovesciata si proietta all’interno di una stanza buia. Non si limita a osservare: perfeziona lo strumento, ne intuisce le applicazioni artistiche e scientifiche, e lo collega al funzionamento dell’occhio umano.
JNN-2. Niépce, Silver mine, Sardinia – 1797 Joseph Nicéphore married Agnese Romero in 1794, an Italian from Nice who had become French and had relatives in Sardinia. With his brother Claude, who joined him, they found themselves stranded by the British on the island for nearly a year. While visiting a zinc and silver mine in the Iglesiente, the first idea to exploit the photogenic properties of silver salts was born. During his military life in Nice in the revolutionary 1790s, both names can be found, Joseph and Nicéphore.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdk-mcujltt-n/> JNN-2. Miniera d’argento, Sardegna – 1797 Joseph si sposò nel 1794 con Agnese Romero, italiana di Nizza diventata francese, con parenti in Sardegna. Con il fratello Claude, che gli raggiunse, si ritrovarono bloccati dagli inglesi sull’isola per quasi un anno. Durante la visita a una miniera di zinco e d’argento nell’Iglesiente nacque la prima idea di sfruttare le proprietà fotogeniche dei sali d’argento. Eliocromie pubblicate come cartolina, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fanno parte, una, della prima serie I Misteri della Fotografia, dedicata ai miti ed ai precursori, e la seconda della serie dedicata alla vita di Joseph Nicéphore Niépce Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia

La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
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“We kiss goodbye, since I can’t shake her hand. From the bus platform, I see her again. She stands motionless, transfixed. She watches, she seems to be dreaming in my direction. Tomorrow she will see her friend again. She does not envy my freedom.” No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-skudiky-mcujltt-p/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-r/> Lapsus: Irregular Reflections. Visions Beyond the Window The Biennale program announced: “Saturday, June 21st, 9:00 PM: Buffet at Lapsus Space (Giardini della Rocca, ex-Elettrauto) – Exhibition: The Window of the Invention, Irregular Reflections.” Lapsus is a creative workshop for people with various disabilities—what in Italy is also called Art Therapy. For two months, Andrea, who leads the workshop, worked with the artists on the theme of Niépce’s window, as well as on clouds seen through the window and the ideas that can come to us as we look out. Oliviero Goffi, from Mondolfo, organized the installation of a vintage wooden window, similar to those in Niépce’s house at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-y/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-j/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-t/> The artists were proud to describe their works to the evening’s visitors. The Lapsus team had also organized a buffet and were joined by a young mathematics student from the University of Bologna, « Barbopiano », who brought his piano.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-i/> Andrea was determined to include something rare—a photograph or a painting—and together we chose a curious, naïve work from 1901: a painting inspired by the picnic scenes of Manet and Cézanne, especially their Déjeuner sur l’herbe, created by Désirée Hellé, a remarkable artist who, despite being unable to move her fingers, found her own way to paint.
The main source on Désirée Hellé is a remarkable text by Violette Leduc, published in Les Temps Modernes, No. 80, June 1952, pp. 2288–2293. It is available online (access Violette Leduc’s French text here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-d/>). Here is a translation of three large extracts:
« Last month, Romi exhibited the works of Désirée Hellé in his gallery—a place that is also a shop for curious objects where nothing is for sale, where eccentrics and seekers of the picturesque gather. Romi, the talent scout who rediscovered 1900, who launched the Saint-Yves, who made its stars, was hosting a few friends on the evening of the opening: The watcher of sophora seeds in the tiny square on rue de Seine; The Liebig card collector; The retired colonel who collects World War I memorials; The buyer of shell frames; The collector of little symbolist magazines where the poems of Verlaine, Laforgue, Mallarmé were first published; The ex-convict who, from Place Vendôme to Quai Malaquais, plays hoop with a stolen tire; The former notary, a fan of women with long hair on postcards; The beggar student who took lessons with the master of the house, passed an exam, was accepted, and will soon teach other beggar students; The stubborn one who has been preparing a thesis on Nadar’s techniques and inventions for fifteen years. Romi faced countless difficulties before gathering all of Désirée Hellé’s works in his gallery. He found the first painting at a junk dealer’s. The signature was legible, but the date—1894—made him wonder. Was the artist still alive, and if so, how to find more paintings? He confided in Inspector Delarue, author of a book on the art of tattooing. The inspector, a lover of naïve painting, handled his files with such virtuosity that he succeeded. Désirée Hellé was alive, living somewhere between Nation and Bastille. »
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-h/> Oil on hardboard (primitive masonite), 38×46 cm, signed, dated, lower left angle, inscription with place « Vaux de Cernay près Dampierre », pencil, verso
« Désirée Hellé waits for me in her prim armchair, near bed number three. No wrinkles, no white hair. Her hair is the color of twine—untouched for sixty-seven years. Désirée Hellé is eighty-two. She sits upright, rises from her chair with ease, welcomes me graciously, then tosses her hands—colored by inertia, gloved in khaki mittens, each thumb secured by a loop of yarn—onto the sheet, onto the coverlet, smoothing out the creases. She asks me to adjust the position of the little wine jug hanging from a bedrail. “What I find the most beautiful are the frames,” she tells me when I mention the exhibition Romi has organized for her. She smiles at the nurses passing by, lends her neighbor on the right, using my hands, the magazines I brought her, and asks me to whisper because her neighbor on the left is sleeping in an identical chair, dozing with the newspaper L’Aurore on her lap. We talk about her paintings. She remembers… She left school in 1884, in her fourteenth year, helping her mother in the workshop, which would occasionally come alive with the nervous clatter of the sewing machine. Mother and daughter sewed together, loving each other without looking up, heads bowed. Her father worked at the customs office. Days, weeks, months passed. Suddenly, her mother became upset: Désirée was handling her work poorly. Her thumb refused to bend. The pharmacist sold them potions and tonics; Désirée started drinking Colombian wine… One evening, at the start of dinner, her soup spoon slipped from her hand, splashing the blouse she and her mother had sewn together. Her father wiped his jacket sleeve. A young girl’s hand had died on the white tablecloth. There followed visits and long waits in Paris hospitals. Charcot and Babinski took an interest in her case. “The nerves, the nerves,” they repeated at the Salpêtrière. The paralysis crept up to her elbow, and in twelve months, it robbed her of her hands and forearms… Désirée returned to the workshop, sewing with her teeth. In winter, she rose at five in the morning and, with her atrophied hands—still flickering with treacherous tremors—she polished the floor, made the pans shine, scrubbed the mirrors. Her hands were rags on a waxed cloth, on a tuft of steel wool, on a chamois for the windows. She used her shoulders to rub and polish in circles, but couldn’t pick up a single straw. She kept busy, she read. She hoped. She hoped for ten years. Mother and daughter would go out together, shop at the Aligre market, buy thyme, herbs, bay leaves from a woman from Martinique. Désirée remembers: she used to draw identical laurel branches when she was in certificate class. She remembers the artist who set up his easel in the corridor of the Salpêtrière. She asked her father for drawing supplies. He brought her graph paper from the customs office. She had to take the pencil, hold it, keep hold of it. It was slow, it was hard, but the fifteen-year-old girl did not give up. »
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-k/> « When I tell her I’m leaving, she asks if I want to help her get dressed. It’s cold, very cold, but Désirée Hellé wants to come with me. When I put her hat on and tilt it too far forward, she laughs. I tie a shabby beige cord around her neck. We set off. The solitary woman sitting on the windowsill next to the Locke Room staircase recognizes me and watches us. Today she has seen both a visitor and the visited. In the courtyard, we pass a woman with her face painted red and black, wearing gloves and a rabbit-fur cap. She sizes us up and shouts:— Are you leaving us? Are you going away for good?“She’s mad,” Désirée Hellé tells me, “but you should answer her.”— I’m not leaving. I’m just walking with a friend.It’s true, I am her friend! I stretch, open the pockets of her black coat, take her hands—hands I’m no longer afraid of—and warm them in each pocket. I give her my arm, high up near her armpit where there is a nest, where there is life. Désirée Hellé insists on coming outside with me, and we pace back and forth together, waiting for the bus. We kiss goodbye, since I can’t shake her hand. From the bus platform, I see her again. She stands motionless, transfixed. She watches, she seems to be dreaming in my direction. Tomorrow she will see her friend again. She does not envy my freedom.” (Violette Leduc)
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-u/> Focus studio is below the Rocca Roveresca walls
Let’s conclude with two special card dedicated to Nicephore’s window, created for the Misteri della Fotografia series ! JNN-4. Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, May 1816 First encouraging result with a tiny camera, called a « souricière, » made from a tiny ring box. The image taken from the window, measuring just 6 cm², is a negative on sensitized paper. But the unstable silver salts eventually blacken, and the image disappears. Heliochromy published as a postcard, mixed media on a digital base: collage, engraving, gouache retouching, and manual interventions. It is part of the first series, The Mysteries of Photography, dedicated to the life of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-o/> JNN-4. Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, maggio 1816 Primo risultato incoraggiante con una piccolissima camera, detta “souricière”, ricavata da una minuscola scatola per anelli. L’immagine presa dalla finestra, di appena 6 cm², è un negativo su carta sensibilizzata. Ma i sali d’argento, instabili, finiscono per annerirsi, e l’immagine scompare.

JNN-9. Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, July 1827 Niépce looks out of the window at the roof of his farm: the « View from the Gras » is born. He is happy. So are we. For over 25 years, Maison Niépce has preserved the site intact, with numerous authentic documents that allow all lovers of the history of photography not only to project themselves into the era of the invention, but also to conduct their own investigations.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudiky-mcujltt-b/> JNN-9. Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, luglio 1827 Niépce osserva dalla finestra il tetto della sua fattoria: nasce il “Punto di vista dal Gras”. Ne è felice. Anche noi. La Maison Niépce conserva da oltre 25 anni il luogo intatto, con numerosi documenti autentici che permettono a tutti gli amanti della storia della fotografia non solo di proiettarsi nell’epoca dell’invenzione, ma anche di condurre le proprie indagini. Eliocromie pubblicate come cartolina, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fanno parte, una, della prima serie I Misteri della Fotografia, dedicata ai miti ed ai precursori, e la seconda della serie dedicata alla vita di Joseph Nicéphore Niépce Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia

La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
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Like Nicéphore Niépce, we share a great faith in the secret link between words and things. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-sulqdd-mcujltt-k/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdd-mcujltt-r/> Daniel Girardin gave his conference on Niépce, on the evening of Sunday 22nd of June, at the Rotonda a mare. He allows us to publish large extracts of his text :
“Despite his tragic fate, Niépce is a curious figure. Solitary—perhaps too far removed from the centers of power—he stands at the heart of what Walter Benjamin called ‘the fog surrounding the invention of photography,’ part of ‘the mystery of photography’ that is at the core of this Biennale. A ‘mystery’ with many layers, full of hidden drawers. Niépce’s fate is well captured by an image from a Melville film: a dead end, a forbidden zone, a false date, a hideous concrete wall—his story feels like a battle. Isolated, ruined, and poorly defended after his death by his son Isidore, Niépce was ultimately betrayed by Daguerre and Arago, who did everything they could to erase his name from one of the most brilliant inventions at the dawn of the industrial age: photography. Niépce turns out to be closer to the Balzacian characters of Lost Illusions than to the heroic scientists of Jules Verne’s novels. Fortunately, his honor—and the very existence of his invention—were saved from oblivion by numerous testimonies, sometimes in the most improbable ways. Such is the case with Iosef Khristianovitch Hamel, whose story was wonderfully told by Serge Plantureux in his excellent booklet The Spy and the Fern: Joseph Hamel’s Mission to Talbot, Niépce, and Daguerre, published in 2003. A fixed date, a marker, is certainly important from a historical point of view (1822, 1824, 1826, 1827); but the invention of photography is a long process, not a single date.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdd-mcujltt-y/> « Photography is part of the Western tradition of image-making, a tradition that has been evolving since the Renaissance. Photography certainly sparked a revolution and expanded the possibilities of the image, even to the point of ‘liberating painting’—to use Cocteau’s phrase. But it did not appear out of nowhere. We must appreciate the detours, the Brechtian grains of sand in the well-oiled machinery of official narratives. Niépce is a perfect example. The historiography of publications about the invention is fascinating. It also reveals the complexity of the process and all the stakes surrounding this invention: economics, prestige, philosophy, nationalism, and more. I would like to share a few reflections on Niépce, focusing mainly on the cultural perspective, setting aside the scientific, economic, or political aspects. According to his baptismal papers, Niépce was born Joseph on March 7, 1765, and died Nicéphore on July 5, 1833. It’s important to note—not just as a symbol—the significance of Niépce’s adoption of the unusual first name Nicéphore, which carried a heavy meaning in the eighteenth century. After completing his studies (then called “Humanities”) at the Collège de Chalon, he became a fifth-grade teacher at the Collège d’Anjou, working for the Brothers of the Oratory in 1786. » (See illustration below of what was then the best college for sciences in the kingdom of France).
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdd-mcujltt-j/> « But in 1787, Niépce “was suddenly stripped of his fifth-grade class and relegated to the position of boarding school prefect.” He then signed a letter of protest to Father Latour, signing it « Nicéphore » Niépce. A certain Father Bonnardet, whose sources are unknown, wrote: “he was treated this way because of his frivolity and lack of authority over the students, whom he entertained with shadow plays instead of making them work.” Yet the inventory of the school’s physics cabinet proves that the school did indeed possess a magic lantern for projecting images from glass plates. Nicéphore is the new first name Niépce chose for himself in 1787, and he kept it, proof that it was not just a passing whim. Nicéphore is also the name of the future Patriarch of Constantinople, who at the Council of Nicaea in 787 championed the cause of the iconodules (friends of images) against the iconoclasts (enemies of images), during the great controversy over images that lasted in Christendom from the eighth to the ninth centuries. Nicéphore is a name loaded with meaning, synonymous with defender of images, linked to the Council of Nicaea, which met almost exactly a thousand years before Niépce’s letter, in 787. That council theoretically ended a hundred years of sometimes bloody bans on religious images. People were killed and tortured over images. In 820, just before becoming Patriarch of Constantinople, Nicéphore developed an argument with immense consequences: drawing is not circumscribing, and painting, he said in essence, relates only to resemblance. In other words, it is independent of its model (then called its archetype). It should be considered an act of sensory apprehension in the mode of resemblance alone. The image is only an imitation. At the end of the eighteenth century, there was a huge fascination with Greco-Roman culture, and a religious culture of which Niépce was perfectly aware. Throughout his life, he continued to cite Latin authors (in Latin), especially Virgil, and to draw on Greek for the neologisms he used to name his inventions. Nicéphore is therefore—though I cannot prove it—possibly a reference to a man of images, a thousand years to the day after the Council of Nicaea, in protest against an injustice brought about by his passion for images, through a magic lantern. Booed in Chalon… This was nothing compared to the uproar I caused by drawing a symbolic parallel between Nicéphore and Veronica—an angle that participants at the time were unable to grasp. »
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdd-mcujltt-t/> « A parallel between the names Veronica and Nicéphore, but also between the nature of photography, then in gestation, and the myth of Veronica’s veil in Catholic tradition. Here’s an explanation: In Christian tradition, Veronica is said to have wiped the bloodied face of Christ on his way to Golgotha. The imprint of his face remained on the cloth, making it a miraculous and sacred relic—what is called an acheiropoietic image, or “not made by human hands.” Veronica also derives from the Greek name Berenice, which, like Nicéphore, means ‘bringer of victory.’ Veronica is now also the patron saint of photographers; her Latin name corresponds to vera iconica, the true image… I won’t go into detail here. I simply want to place this image within the broader reflection on images in the West, with photography at the center. Let’s also note Niépce’s use of Bitumen of Judea as early as 1817—stercus diaboli to the alchemists (“devil’s dung”), a darkness conquered by light (lux in Latin). A paradox. Lux is also the name of the village where Isidore Niépce, Nicéphore’s son, settled in 1829 (pronounced “Lu” in the region). Niépce’s countless experiments place photography-in-the-making as the true heir to the Renaissance. It revived the camera obscura, incorporated linear perspective into its approach, and adopted—if not fulfilled—the ideology of “mimesis,” the perfect imitation of nature, the artistic ideal of the Renaissance. The camera obscura is already mentioned in Aristotle’s writings, described and revived by Leonardo da Vinci; by 1550, it was more than a simple pinhole device, equipped with lenses; by 1573, fitted with a concave mirror to right the image. The question of the machine is an interesting one. Camera obscura, camera lucida, drawing machines… Mechanical art, therefore trivial? Steichen had an excellent answer to this: would anyone reproach a musician for playing the piano instead of singing? Through the correspondence between Niépce and his brother Claude, we know that the idea seems to have come to them during a trip to Sardinia in 1797. There were many scientific, chemical, and optical precedents and unfinished experiments before Niépce. Photography could have been invented in the eighteenth century, after the German scientist Schulze discovered the properties of silver salts; we have seen that the camera obscura was already widely used since the sixteenth century. The time of invention was likely favored by the changing perceptions and perspectives at the end of the eighteenth century, and by the new industrial possibilities such an invention offered. This is also where Niépce stands, from the invention of the engine—the Pyreolophore (1806)—to his heliographic experiments, which were as much about reproducing engravings as about direct writing of viewpoints. One text draws our attention: that of Tiphaigne de la Roche, a Norman veterinarian, who in 1760 wrote a novella called Giphantie (an anagram of Tiphaigne), which tells of a world where mirrors remember. One also thinks of Leonardo da Vinci’s writings, who always advised artists to use a mirror to understand what a landscape or portrait would look like in two dimensions. A love of language and Greek words. At the heart of Niépce’s concepts, one could say their soul, their philosophy, the very meaning of their realization. Nature itself (archéïopète); imprint, drawing, writing; truth. An ambiguous concept, in fact, regarding the nature of photography as it would develop. This quick overview, I hope, has opened up new and original horizons for you. As Niépce wrote to his brother Claude, ‘to burn with the desire to see’ is a wonderful feeling. And like Nicéphore Niépce, I have great faith in the secret link between words and things.”
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdd-mcujltt-i/> Daniel Girardin in conversation with Michael Kolster
Let’s conclude with two special card dedicated to the two Nicephores from 787 and 1787, created for the Misteri della Fotografia series ! MYT-4 – Nikeforos. Second Council of Nicaea, Asia Minor, 6295 since the creation of the world (787 AD) Nikeforos, a young logothetes of the genikon, defends sacred images against iconoclasm. Thanks to his eloquence and steadfastness, the systematic destruction of icons is halted. For a short time, the image is saved. In the East, he is even considered a saint for his wisdom. But the destruction resumes at the end of his life, and will not truly stop until the year 843. There was nothing left to destroy. Almost nothing was saved.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-sulqdd-mcujltt-d/> MYT-4 – Nikeforos. Secondo Concilio di Nicea, Asia Minore, 6295 dalla creazione del Mondo (787 d.C.) Nikeforos, giovane logoteta del genikon, difende le immagini sacre contro l’iconoclastia. Grazie alla sua eloquenza e alla sua fermezza, la distruzione sistematica delle icone viene interrotta. Per un tempo breve, l’immagine è salva. In Oriente, viene persino considerato un santo per la sua saggezza. Ma le distruzioni riprendono alla fine della sua vita, e non si fermeranno davvero fino all’anno 843. Non restava più nulla da distruggere. Quasi nulla si è salvato. Heliochromy published as a postcard, mixed media on a digital base: collage, engraving, gouache retouching, and manual interventions. It is part of the first series, The Mysteries of Photography, dedicated to myths and precursors. The next one belongs to the second series, dedicated to the life of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce :
JNN-1. Collegio degli Oratoriani di Angers, 1787 Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, giovanissimo professore nella classe di “sixième”, mostra la lanterna magica ai suoi allievi. Viene retrocesso, dà le dimissioni e adotta il nome di Nicephore, campione degli iconoduli contro gli iconoclasti, mille anni prima.

JNN-1. Collegio degli Oratoriani di Angers, 1787 Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, giovanissimo professore nella classe di “sixième”, mostra la lanterna magica ai suoi allievi. Viene retrocesso, dà le dimissioni e adotta il nome di Nicephore, campione degli iconoduli contro gli iconoclasti, mille anni prima. Eliocromie pubblicate come cartolina, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fanno parte, una, della prima serie I Misteri della Fotografia, dedicata ai miti ed ai precursori, e la seconda della serie dedicata alla vita di Joseph Nicéphore Niépce Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia

La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
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Nancy Lee Katz managed to create a body of work without calling herself an artist, and without discussion—simply by focusing on doing. Sometimes, between saying and doing, you have to choose. Nancy chose to do. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-skudity-mcujltt-jt/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA
Nancy Lee Katz (1947–2018) quietly built a unique pantheon of portraits. In it, she brought together artists, musicians, photographers, writers, and intellectuals whom she admired for their moral values and creative integrity. Some of her images, such as those of Richard Serra or Louise Bourgeois, are now considered iconic.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-r/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-y/> A reserved and original figure, Nancy Lee Katz never called herself an artist, nor did she seek to belong to any school or movement. Raised in New York in a family of filmmakers—her father, Sid Katz, an Emmy-winning editor, her mother, Babette, elegant and athletic—she grew up immersed in images. After university in West Virginia, she set off alone for Europe and Morocco, living for a year and a day with just a thousand dollars in her pocket. Upon returning to the United States, she worked as an editing assistant, then as a set photographer, before quietly devoting herself to portraiture. The project began without contacts or support: she wrote directly to her future sitters with simple, straightforward letters. “Dear Mr. Rauschenberg, I am a portrait photographer and would like to photograph people whose work I admire. Perhaps one day there will be a book. If you grant me an hour of your time, I promise you a good portrait.” Almost all of them accepted. Probably because they sensed that these images would not end up in a glossy magazine, and that Nancy never asked anyone for help in approaching her subjects.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-j/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-t/> Michael Sachs guiding the visit in Rocca Roveresca, before his conference, June 21st, 2025.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-i/> Nancy Lee Katz was deeply independent, without guile, respectful, yet impervious to social conventions. She kept her projects to herself: she would not reveal to anyone the identity of the person she was about to photograph—not even to her partner, who only found out after developing the negatives, in order to update an old Excel file. She never “dropped names,” even though she knew the entire New York art world. Each portrait was a tête-à-tête: the relationship between Nancy, the subject, and the image was sacred—an act of mutual trust. Her work, the fruit of twenty-five years of dedication, remained secret for a long time: she never exhibited or published these portraits, and only three weeks before her death did she reveal them to her partner, so they would not be lost. She selected the best shots from nearly two hundred sessions, classifying them as “good,” “maybe,” or “to discard.” After her passing, that body of work became what we can now call her “Pantheon”: 133 portraits of 128 personalities, almost all chosen by her. To these is added the moving, though “rejected,” portrait of Ilse Bing, the great photographer at age 95 :
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-d/> As Malcolm Daniel <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-h/>, curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, wrote, “Inspiring a degree of collaboration with her sitters, Katz seems to have grasped her subjects’ habits, ideas, and character—to have found “the intimate resemblance” in Nadar’s words.  <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-k/>” Today, her Pantheon emerges from the shadows, revealing the quiet strength of a photographer who, without fanfare, knew how to capture the truth. Nancy never sold her prints and that they are not for sale now.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-u/> Nancy Lee Katz passport photo, age 31
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-o/> The conference took place in the remarkable Senigallia fortress, the Rocca Roveresca <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-b/>, alongside an exhibition of six musician portraits. We were celebrating both music and photography. Celeste translated Michael’s words into Italian.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-n/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-f/> The main exhibition, featuring 23 portraits, was held at the nearby Palazzetto Baviera. The Erasmus students spent a long time discussing how to arrange the portraits, before ultimately accepting the brief and decisive advice of passing artists.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-z/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-v/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-e/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-s/> Michael took the opportunity to organize the filming of short sequences in Senigallia, destined for a movie produced in the US. For several days, Alberto—the cameraman from Senigallia’s local TV channel—and Jean-Hugues, an independent French artist, followed his directions. The three of them managed to collaborate, even though they shared only a handful of words in common.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-g/> Back at Rocca, on Saturday late afternoon, after the conference, musicians began to play jazz, and the youngest attendees—who had been so respectful of art and culture—were now eagerly awaiting the chance to wear their masks for the traditional Biennale masked ball. Held in honor of the Festa della Musica and the summer solstice, it was a joyful celebration of art, nature, and creativity.
MASKED BALL <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-w/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-yd/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-yh/>
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-yk/> The exhibition at the Rocca will be on view for most of July. To read Malcolm Daniel’s essay on Nancy Lee Katz’s Pantheon, visit: www.mfah.org/collection/nancy-lee-katz <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-yu/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-jl/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-jr/> Let’s conclude with a special card dedicated to the founding myth of portrait photography : MYT-2 – Zeuxis and Parrhasios. Greece, 5th century BC (as told by Pliny, under the consulship of Titus Flavius Vespasian and Titus Flavius Sabinus, year 77 AD) Two Greek painters, both famous for their realism, compete in a trompe-l’œil contest. Zeuxis paints grapes with such perfection that birds come to peck at them. Parrhasios, subtler, paints a simple curtain. Zeuxis tries to move it… but the veil is itself an illusion. Pliny the Elder recounts this story in his Natural History. It is the earliest tale of art deceiving the eye, coming close to tangible reality. Heliochromy published as a postcard, mixed media on a digital base: collage, engraving, gouache retouching, and manual interventions. It is part of the first series, The Mysteries of Photography, dedicated to myths and precursors.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudity-mcujltt-jy/> MYT-2 – Zeuxis e Parrhasios. Grecia, V secolo a.C. (racconto di Plinio, sotto il consolato di Tito Flavio Vespasiano e Tito Flavio Sabino (anno 77 d.C.) Due pittori greci, entrambi celebri per il loro realismo, si sfidano in un concorso di trompe-l’œil. Zeuxis dipinge dell’uva con tale perfezione che gli uccelli vengono a beccarla. Parrhasios, più sottile, dipinge un semplice tendaggio. Zeuxis tenta di spostarlo… ma il velo è anch’esso un’illusione. Lo racconta Plinio il Vecchio nella Naturalis Historia. È il primo racconto dell’arte che inganna l’occhio, che si avvicina alla realtà sensibile. Eliocromia pubblicata come cartolina, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fa parte della prima serie I Misteri della Fotografia, dedicata ai miti ed ai precursori Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia

La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
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For two hundred years, scientists have defended the legacy of Niépce. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-skudttt-mcujltt-e/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-r/> In his talk, Jean Dhombres emphasized Niépce’s methodical and scientific mindset, highlighting how carefully and systematically Niépce approached his experiments and discoveries. Jean Dhombres started his conference by reading the « Lettre de Nicéphore Niépce à Alexandre du Bard de Curley, 25 octobre 1825 » (video online) <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-y/> Labor improbus omnia vincit. I have personally verified this adage regarding my research: I have finally succeeded in correctly engraving on copper, and I am about to have two or three copies of engravings printed based on the improvements to my processes. If the proofs turn out well, I will have the pleasure of sending you some. I regret being still behind schedule for the views: my improvements came a little too late in the season; but I am confident of future success, and that is already a great deal. I have also commissioned a meniscus prism, which I greatly need to give my research the full breadth it is capable of achieving.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-j/> After Chevalier Ignace Joseph de Claussin (below), after Dirk van der Stoop (second below), after Philips Wouwerman, A Boy talking a Horse to Drink, 1651 Paper print from an Heliograph on copper plate,100×147 mm, August 1825 Printed in Dijon circa November-December 1825. Provenance this print, mentioned in the 25 october letter, given to Alexandre Dubard de Curley, 12 March 1826, described by an old books-dealer from Brussels, Tristan Schwilden, then Collection André Jammes, then Sotheby’s auction, 21 March 2002, now Bibliothèque Nationale.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-t/> Note : In the chronology of Nicéphore Niépce’s work, the first mentions of experiments with bitumen of Judea on copper date back to June 1824. At that time, Nicéphore had succeeded in engraving on this medium images obtained with the camera obscura: “With my current composition, I have also succeeded in engraving on red copper as well as on stone—a result I had previously achieved only very imperfectly with my other process” (letter from Nicéphore to Claude, June 13, 1824, ASR). In a previous letter (preserved) sent to his cousin de Curley in June 1825, Nicéphore revealed that he was eagerly awaiting copper plates to carry out new experiments (June 5, 1825, BNF). In July 1825, Nicéphore contacted the engraver Lemaître. Through M. de Champmartin, he sent him “two small copper plates, varnished and ready to receive the action of acid.” However, this attempt ended in failure, as the layer of varnish was not sufficiently resistant (cf. Letter from Nicéphore to Lemaître, January 17, 1827, ASR).
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-i/> In a previous letter (preserved) sent to his cousin de Curley in June 1825, Nicéphore revealed that he was eagerly awaiting copper plates to carry out new experiments (June 5, 1825, BNF). In July 1825, Nicéphore contacted the engraver Lemaître. Through M. de Champmartin, he sent him “two small copper plates, varnished and ready to receive the action of acid.” However, this attempt ended in failure, as the layer of varnish was not sufficiently resistant (cf. Letter from Nicéphore to Lemaître, January 17, 1827, ASR). Nevertheless, Nicéphore persevered and, in August 1825, found a better way to engrave his copper plates: “I [can] repeat the operation, that is to say, paint and engrave alternately, until I have obtained the depth sufficient for the printing ink” (cf. Letter from Nicéphore to Claude, August 7, 1825, ASR). Satisfied with this improvement (alternating stripping and chemical engraving), he decided to approach a printer in Dijon in the fall of 1825 to have some engraved plates printed. He reported the results of this effort to his cousin de Curley in his letter of January 14, 1826: “dear Cousin, I had a few proofs of my copper engravings printed in Dijon; but, either through my fault or that of the printer, these proofs lack the desired sharpness and correction.”
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-d/> Dhombres also drew attention to one of Niépce’s greatest contemporaries, Joseph Fourier, underlining the intellectual environment of the time. As civilian governor of Egypt (1798–1801), Fourier launched the Institut d’Égypte. Later, he directed large-scale engineering projects, like draining the swamps of Grenoble. And as a scientist, he wrote the book that changed how we think about heat, introducing thermodynamics. Three bold moves—science in action, shaping the world Niépce lived in. Fourier’s scientific vision helped define the intellectual landscape of Niépce’s lifetime. He spoke about the crucial role played by scientists during the years of the French Revolution and the Empire, showing how the scientific community was deeply involved in the political and social changes of the era. Dhombres insisted that the scientific spirit and the drive for innovation were not isolated from society, but rather, were fundamental to the transformations happening in France at the turn of the nineteenth century.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-h/> Now, to illustrate this scientific spirit, Dhombres told how, as a series editor at Belin, he once received the manuscript by Jean-Louis Marignier. The manuscript described, in extraordinary detail and with remarkable precision and empiricism, Marignier’s colossal work to reconstruct, step by step, every single experiment carried out by Nicéphore Niépce. The sheer scale and rigor of this work actually intimidated the publisher, and Dhombres had to fight to get it published—even though the series itself was called “A Scientist, An Era.” So here is one of the mysteries resolved: how did the most fundamental book for anyone interested in the invention of photography—that is, the book by Jean-Louis Marignier—finally get published? Marignier’s research is legendary for its thoroughness. He not only retraced Niépce’s technical and chemical processes, but also managed to reproduce them in the laboratory, reviving techniques that had been lost since the 1820s. His book, L’invention de la photographie (Belin, 1999), remains a reference, even though it is now out of print.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-k/> What is less well known about Marignier—but is present in the exhibition—is the scientific article that explains, at the atomic level, how the invention of photography was even possible. It took more than one and a half centuries to understand and explain what Niépce invented!
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-u/> Background on Silver Cluster Nuclearity and Photographic Chemistry: The idea that the smallest metallic aggregates (clusters) of silver have a specific reduction potential—more negative than that of bulk silver, and dependent on the number of atoms (n) in the cluster—was first introduced by Delcourt and Belloni in 1973. This insight is fundamental for understanding the chemistry behind silver-based photography. Mechanism of the Photographic Process: Photons strike the crystals of silver halide (like AgBr), ejecting an electron from the bromide ion (Br⁻) (exposure to light) and generating electron-hole pairs in the crystal lattice. The photo-generated electrons reduce silver ions (Ag⁺) to neutral silver atoms (Ag⁰), which then cluster together. Only those silver clusters that exceed a critical size—called the critical nuclearity (n_c, typically 3–5 atoms)—are stable enough to survive oxidation by the positive holes left in the lattice after electron ejection (formation of the latent image).These supercritical clusters act as “seeds” for the development process. During chemical development, the supercritical silver clusters—thanks to their specific structure and electronic energy — accept electrons from the developer and aattract Ag⁺ ions to their surface. In this way, the clusters catalyze the reduction of Ag⁺ ions at their surface, growing into larger, visible metallic silver nanoparticles. As they grow, their catalytic properties intensify. This autocatalytic process continues until one key resource is exhausted or removed—either the developer’s electrons or nearby Ag⁺ ions. Each supercritical cluster catalyzes the reduction of millions of silver ions, yielding a visible image with up to 10⁸-fold amplification. The image forms as these metallic silver grains are deposited throughout the emulsion, where areas of higher silver density appear darker and contribute to the image’s contrast as it emerges. The research by Marignier, Belloni and Mostafavi throughout the 1980s and 1990s consolidated this model. Their work showed that the stability and reactivity of silver clusters are strongly influenced by solvation and the presence of ligands (like gelatin or polymers) in the emulsion, and that the kinetics of cluster coalescence compete with oxidation, directly impacting image formation. Pulse radiolysis studies confirmed that ultrafast reduction of Ag⁺ ions is driven by pre-solvated electrons, especially in acidic environments, and that cationic clusters (like Ag₂⁺) are key intermediates in cluster growth. The pioneering work of Belloni, Mostafavi, Marignier & Amblard —over 150 years after the invention of photography—finally provided the thermodynamic and kinetic framework to explain why isolated silver atoms are unstable, but clusters with n > n_c persist and catalyze further reduction, and how the reduction potential’s dependence on cluster nuclearity enables the catalytic amplification essential for photographic development. These principles remain fundamental for understanding the invention and functioning of silver-based photography, highlighting the unique photochemical properties of silver clusters.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-o/> So let’s ask the uncomfortable question that troubles commentators and historians alike: Can you really engage with the history of science without even a basic education in science, or any hands-on scientific experience? The lecture was followed by a guided tour of the exhibition “Les Mystères de la Photographie,” which offered further context and visual insight into the birth and early development of photography.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-b/> Let’s conclude with three special cards dedicated to the scientific approach leading to the invention of Photography. MYT-8- Della Porta, Keplero e la camera oscura, ca. 1604. Johannes Kepler, astronomo imperiale a Praga, pubblica nel 1604 l’Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena, fondamento dell’ottica moderna. Vi spiega il funzionamento geometrico della camera obscura, collegandolo alla visione umana. I suoi studi si basano sulle osservazioni di Giovan Battista Della Porta, che già nel 1589 aveva descritto una camera oscura dotata di lente nella Magia Naturalis. Keplero supera l’approccio empirico di Della Porta e ne formalizza le intuizioni con rigore matematico. L’immagine rovesciata, tracciata dalla luce, diventa legge ottica. E la camera oscura, strumento di meraviglia, entra nella scienza.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-a/> MYT-8- Della Porta, Kepler, and the camera obscura, ca. 1604. Johannes Kepler, imperial astronomer in Prague, published Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena in 1604, the foundation of modern optics. In it, he explains the geometric functioning of the camera obscura, linking it to human vision. His studies are based on the observations of Giovan Battista Della Porta, who had already described a camera obscura equipped with a lens in Magia Naturalis in 1589. Kepler went beyond Della Porta’s empirical approach and formalized his insights with mathematical rigor. The inverted image traced by light became an optical law. And the camera obscura, an instrument of wonder, entered the realm of science.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-f/> MYT-9 – Huygens and Kircher. Netherlands–Rome, 1659–1671. Around 1659, Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens created the first documented working magic lantern, as evidenced by his drawings and a letter to his brother. Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit working in Rome, published the first printed illustration of a magic lantern in 1671, in the second edition of Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, inspired in part by demonstrations by the Danish engineer Walgensten, which he had seen in Rome.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudttt-mcujltt-z/> MYT- 11 Prof. Charles. Paris, ca. 1789. During a public lecture in Paris around 1789, Jacques Charles demonstrated that it was possible to imprint the shadow of a human figure on paper soaked in silver chloride for a few minutes using a camera obscura. The image was unstable and disappeared shortly afterwards: there was still no method for fixing it. The experiment was not described by him directly, but was remembered by witnesses and popularisers. Charles thus surprisingly anticipated the principle of chemical photosensitivity, which would later be exploited by Niépce and Daguerre. Eliocromie pubblicate come cartoline, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fa parte della prima serie I Misteri della Fotografia, dedicata ai miti ed ai precursori Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia

La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
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This new article is dedicated to my friends, Alfonso Napolitano and Patricia Lo Conte, who have created a welcoming space right next to Atelier 41, at 64 Via Fratelli Bandiera. It was here that the very first arrivals at the Biennale were greeted. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-skudtjd-mcujltt-d/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA
Biennale di Senigallia: A Tribute to Alfonso Napolitano and Patricia Lo Conte. This new article is dedicated to my friends who have created a welcoming space right next to Atelier 41, at 64 Via Fratelli Bandiera. Patricia is showing her photographs behind the curtain to Erasmus students. It was here that the very first arrivals at the IV Biennale were greeted.

The first participants—artists, teachers, and visitors—were welcomed on the evening of Wednesday, June 18th, with a small buffet and a guided tour of Alfonso Napolitano’s exhibition of paintings and photographs, a heartfelt tribute to Mario Giacomelli on the centenary of his birth.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjd-mcujltt-r/> Alfonso Napolitano: An Artist at the Heart of Senigallia Alfonso has played a particularly important role in the artistic development of Senigallia. He has been not only an artist and graphic designer, but also a volunteer collections manager, closely involved with the activities of Carlo Emanuele Bugatti, the founder of the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Photography.

Below are some highlights from an interview Alfonso gave last night at the Foro Annonario, where he was overseeing a photography exhibition. Alfonso’s first meeting with Professor Bugatti dates back to 1970, in Ancona, when Alfonso had just found a job as a graphic designer at a local bank. Carlo Emanuele Bugatti, four or five years Alfonso’s senior, was already publishing a directory of contemporary Italian artists—a volume where the most famous artists were listed first, and whose critical essays were widely recognized for their literary quality. Bugatti quickly built an impressive network. At the same time, lesser-known artists were grateful simply to be included in the directory, while their gallerists were encouraged to make a small contribution to the independent publishing house. In 1970s Italy, everyone found ways to help each other and trade favors, and Alfonso was happy to contribute his skills and further develop as a graphic artist and illustrator.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjd-mcujltt-y/> In 1981, Carlo Emanuele Bugatti founded the Senigallia Museum in a few quirky rooms along the old city walls on Via Cloistergi, where the city hall housed it alongside local artisans’ associations. Local artists, following in the footsteps of Mario Giacomelli, began entrusting their works to the museum after returning from exhibitions across Italy. In fact, it was the return of Giacomelli’s prints from the extraordinary 1980 exhibition in Parma that truly set the movement in motion. When, in 2001, Bugatti secured the use of a small independent palazzo on Via Pisacane, he turned to his devoted friend Alfonso for help with what would have seemed to others an impossible task: how to create and manage a museum on a shoestring budget, with only one paid staff member responsible for keys and logistics. The secret behind Professor Bugatti’s ability to keep the museum running for nearly two decades at the start of this century was the incredible dedication of a small group of volunteers—among whom Alfonso deserves special recognition. Now, Alfonso comes nearly every day and supports all sorts of initiatives—especially the Biennale—in the most discreet way. Patrizia does the same, always present with her camera.

Alfonso had started young—at age twelve, he picked up a pencil and some colors and drew a cat’s head. His mother took it to a framer in Ancona, who put it in the shop window, and it sold for an extraordinary sum—more than half of his father’s monthly salary. Gino Papa, an original artist who taught in a local school, guided him for five years, teaching him the basics of the craft.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjd-mcujltt-j/> This year, Alfonso has prepared an exhibition of his own paintings and photographs, a tribute to Mario Giacomelli—an artist he deeply respected, though he never tried to force his way into Giacomelli’s inner circle. Everything Alfonso does is marked by deep respect and careful observation; he is always available when needed, yet never seeks the spotlight for himself. If you wish to make a visit, here is the contact: napalfonso@yahoo.it <mailto:napalfonso@yahoo.it> www.facebook.com/PatriLoconte/ <www.facebook.com/PatriLoconte/> In a way, by shining a light on him today, we are almost betraying his natural discretion.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjd-mcujltt-t/> Let’s conclude with a special card dedicated to Antonio Canal, created on the suggestion of Alfonso ! MYT- 10 – Canaletto – Venice, ca 1720. Canaletto (Antonio Canal, 1697-1768) is among the first professional painters to systematically use the camera obscura to create images of extraordinary accuracy. His views of Venice are considered by many to be true « photographs before photography. » With the camera obscura he made highly accurate sketches of buildings and landscapes, collected in notebooks such as the one preserved in the Gallerie dell’Accademia. The tool enabled him to faithfully reproduce perspectives and architectural details with a rigor that few others could achieve.

I Misteri della Fotografia – MYT- 10 – Canaletto – Venezia, ca 1720. Canaletto (Antonio Canal, 1697–1768) è tra i primi pittori professionisti a usare sistematicamente la camera obscura per creare immagini di straordinaria precisione. Le sue vedute di Venezia sono considerate da molti vere “fotografie prima della fotografia”. Con la camera obscura realizzava schizzi accuratissimi di edifici e paesaggi, raccolti in taccuini come quello conservato alle Gallerie dell’Accademia. Lo strumento gli permetteva di riprodurre fedelmente prospettive e dettagli architettonici con un rigore che pochi altri potevano ottenere. Eliocromia pubblicata come cartolina, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fa parte della prima serie I Misteri della Fotografia, dedicata ai miti ed ai precursori Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia

La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
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The principal exhibition marking the bicentennial of photography’s invention is dedicated, above all, to the many mysteries that still surround its history. Visitors are encouraged to conduct their own investigations, exploring clues and fragments .. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-skudtjt-mcujltt-n/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjt-mcujltt-r/> Photo Diary from the Senigallia Biennale – Mysterious Leptographic paper The main exhibition is dedicated, above all, to the many mysteries that still surround the history of photography. Visitors are invited to do their own research, following clues and fragments that might either confirm or shake up what we think we know. In the third room upstairs, you first come across a wall titled “The Queen’s Ghost and the Comet of 1858.” Here, the visitor is faced with two classic enigmas: the elusive image of Queen Victoria visiting Paris in 1855—who, in fact, is nowhere to be seen in the photographs without a manual retouching.

—and the comet of 1858, which was visible in daylight for six months but remains invisible in all the ordinary photographic plates of the era. This room evokes the long list of frustations and failures and the creative ferment, the inventive drive, the complex ideas of those who, after Nicéphore Niépce, tried to improve photographic processes. And the plural is essential: there really were many “inventors,” and some mysteries remain unresolved to this day.

One such enigma concerns “leptographic paper.” Although a doctoral thesis in 2000 attempted to clarify what was known about this elusive material, it was not until a recent auction of part of Alfred Coulon’s collection—Coulon being both a friend and likely photographic companion of Olympe Aguado—that a sufficiently complete and coherent group of leptographic prints was discovered. This find finally allowed us to understand the true nature of this photographic paper. In 1866, two photographers based in Spain traveled to Paris to present their invention: a remarkably fast photographic paper, unfortunately too expensive to produce on a large scale, which eliminated many of the laborious steps required by earlier methods and opened the door to experimentation with overlays, collages, and photomontages. This is precisely what Coulon and Godeau did in 1866–67, during the brief period when leptographic paper was available in Paris.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjt-mcujltt-y/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjt-mcujltt-j/> They somehow acquired the original negatives of Eugène Le Dien, who had died the previous year (1865), and used them to make remarkable prints—so surprising that they are not immediately recognizable.
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The artists blurred boundaries, adding skies, clouds, boats, and sometimes even trees, recomposing the images. For the first time, visitors in Senigallia can view these prints.
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As Henri de La Blanchère wrote in his marvelous, though too rarely cited, photographic encyclopedia of 1868: “Leptographic paper, ready-made and already sensitized, offers significant advantages, but also comes with certain drawbacks. The positive images produced capture all the subtle nuances of the negative; they faithfully reproduce tonal values, details, half-tones, whites, blacks, and so forth… Leptographic papers can be stored for a very long time, protected from light and moisture, without any loss of sensitivity. Printing is three times faster than with albumen paper. Prints can be fixed several days after exposure, without deterioration. The resulting prints are exceptionally fine, delicate, and durable once fixed.”
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjt-mcujltt-k/> John Hannavy describes the decisive improvement of Leptographic paper in his history of photographic processes: « In 1866, the Frenchman Juan Laurent, in collaboration with Spaniard José Martínez-Sánchez, perfected ‘Leptographic’ paper (‘Leptofotografía’), a collodio-silver chloride printing paper which was sold ready to use. The light-sensitive silver chloride was held in a binding layer of cellulose nitrate, separated from the paper by a layer of barium sulphate (later known as baryta), giving a much whiter base color to prints than had been previously possible with albumen paper. The baryta layer acted as a barrier, eliminating the spotting from rusting metal particles in the paper which sometimes happened with albumen papers, and at a stroke, the introduction of this paper removed from the photographer all the paraphernalia of having to sensitize the paper before use, as had been needed with albumen. As the manufacturers claimed it had three times the sensitivity of albumen, exposure times for contact printing could also be reduced significantly. Despite such promise, the paper was not a commercial success, and it would be the 1880s before ready-made silver chloride papers achieved significant popularity. One of the first collodio-chloride papers to achieve success—and very similar in chemistry to Laurent’s—was introduced in 1884 by Paul Eduard Liesegang of Düsseldorf, who called his paper ‘Aristotype.’ Collodion and gelatine-based printing papers, when developed, produced a neutral image, whereas when used as printing-out papers, the rich warm brown tones of the gold-toned albumen paper could be imitated. The year after Liesegang’s success, in 1885, the Britannia Works Company in England—forerunner of Ilford Ltd—introduced the first of their gelatine-based silver chloride papers, a product which was replicated throughout the world by several companies. It is the successor of that gelatine-based silver chloride emulsion which persists as a specialist product today. »
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjt-mcujltt-u/> Fortunately, to help shed light on these mysteries, some of the prints bear stamps with the word “leptographie.” There is also a tiny print on thick paper, which Laurent referred to as “carte porcelaine.”
The only certainty in the history of photography is that it remains incomplete. There is still much to discover and understand, and true progress is only possible through direct experience and hands-on engagement with original materials. The Erasmus program in Senigallia offers students—accustomed mostly to PowerPoint lectures—the rare opportunity to handle these documents themselves.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skudtjt-mcujltt-o/> Let’s conclude by introducing the series of educational postcards we have created for the Biennale, beginning with a special card dedicated to Roger Bacon, the medieval philosopher who first insisted that “no discourse can provide certainty—everything depends on experience.” Roger Bacon wrote and sent to Pope Clement IV—at the Pope’s own request—a copy of his Opus Majus, in which he argued that scientific progress is possible only through experimental proof. He wrote: “Experimentum solum certificat.” In the fifth part of the Opus Majus, Bacon examines reflection, refraction, the structure of the eye, and optical phenomena such as the rainbow. “Argumentum autem ex per se nihil certitudinis habet, sed certitudo experimentum tantum.” (Opus Majus, Pars VI, cap. 1)
Roger Bacon – Oxford, 1267. Frate francescano e filosofo, Roger Bacon scrive e invia a papa Clemente IV, che gliel’aveva richiesto, una copia del suo Opus Majus, in cui sostiene che la scienza progredisce solo grazie alla prova sperimentale. Scrive: «Nessun discorso può dare certezza. Tutto dipende dall’esperienza. » Nella quinta parte dell’Opus Majus, studia la riflessione, la rifrazione, la struttura dell’occhio e i fenomeni ottici come l’arcobaleno. Eliocromia pubblicata come cartolina, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fa parte della prima serie I Misteri della Fotografia, dedicata ai miti ed ai precursori Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia

La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
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A self-taught photographer, Simona Ballesio works with hand-coated cotton paper, applying silver salt emulsions with a brush, following artisanal methods dating back to the 19th century. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-skttult-mcujltt-n/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skttult-mcujltt-r/> Photo Diary from the Senigallia Biennale – Simona Ballesio: Divento Six years ago, Senigallia and Fermo were officially designated as Cities of Photography. That same year, with the support of the city and a small circle of friends, we launched the first edition of the Senigallia Biennale. Since then, the initiative has grown — not only as an event, but as a culture. One hundred years ago, right here in Senigallia, Mario Giacomelli was born. Following in the footsteps of Giuseppe Cavalli, Gianni Tarini, and Ferruccio Ferroni, he created images full of joy and depth, soon becoming internationally recognized. Today, hundreds of residents practice photography not as a profession, but as a passion. It was through a Senigallia friend that Simona Ballesio first heard about the Biennale and found the location of Atelier 41.

One day, she arrived from her small town of Sutri, in the Lazio region. Photography, for her, is neither a job nor a claim — it is a daily and passionate practice. She asked if she could participate in the next Biennale. I told her that in one way or another, her work would need to reflect the spirit of the celebration: the bicentenary of the invention of photography. She showed me her work and told me of her love for historical techniques, especially her method of hand-applying silver emulsions with a brush. She returned with her sister Giuliana. She connected instantly with the Winter Erasmus students, Elisa and Margaux.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skttult-mcujltt-y/> For the main exhibition she would present a triptych and two framed composition of plants.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skttult-mcujltt-j/> We introduced her to the kind people of the Associazione Augusto Bellanca, and it was decided not only that she would present a few photographs at Palazzetto Baviera, but that she would also be given a personal retrospective at the association’s gallery — which is still on view.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skttult-mcujltt-t/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skttult-mcujltt-i/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skttult-mcujltt-d/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skttult-mcujltt-h/> She came for the Biennale with her sister. They even took a table at the collectors’ fair, where they spent time talking with other artists and collectors. Because Senigallia is also about this: taking the time to meet, to share, to listen.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skttult-mcujltt-k/> Simona and Giuliana became especially interested in the work of Michael Kolster — a fellow exhibitor whose approach to 19th-century techniques resonated with her own. That’s the spirit of the Biennale: curiosity, exchange, and slow discovery.
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La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
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Since the very first edition of the Senigallia Biennale in 2019, we made the decision to include a modest fair — a space where a few dealers and collectors could meet, exchange ideas, and trade works. Because trade is life. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-skutkht-mcujltt-m/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-r/> Since the very first edition of the Senigallia Biennale <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-y/> in 2019, we made the decision to include a modest fair — a space where a few dealers and collectors could meet, exchange ideas, and trade works. Because trade is life. Photographers soon joined in to share their latest creations, and each edition has preserved this convivial moment.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-j/> This year, the fair took place on Friday evening and especially on Saturday morning, in one of the city’s most beautiful settings: the Foro Annonario, a neoclassical construction inaugurated in 1836.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-t/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-i/> The Fiera di Senigallia (also known as the Fiera della Maddalena) traces its origins to the final days of the Middle Ages. Indirect records confirm its existence as early as 1408, during the rule of the Malatesta family, while tradition and legend reach further back — sometimes as far as the thirteenth century. The first official mention appears in 1458, when Senigallia was granted a franchigia, or tax exemption, for the fair by the Malatesta. In 1474, Senigallia passed from Malatesta control to the independent Duchy of Urbino, ruled by the rising della Rovere dynasty, after Pope Sixtus IV assigned the city to his nephew, Giovanni della Rovere. Under Urbino’s sovereignty, Senigallia flourished, enjoying autonomy and favorable conditions for trade. After the Duchy’s annexation by the Papal States in 1631, Senigallia suffered a succession of epidemics.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-d/> Fortunately, Pope Benedict XIV (1740–1758) elevated the city’s status by designating it the sole free port (porto franco) within the Papal States, aiming to rival the commercial power of Ancona and Venice. This privileged status included sweeping tax exemptions and simplified customs procedures, attracting merchants from across Europe and the Mediterranean.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-h/> In 1746, Benedict XIV also commissioned the construction of the Portici Ercolani — a grand colonnade of 126 arches along the Misa River — to host foreign merchants and consular representatives from countries including England, Denmark, Sweden, the Ottoman Empire, Austria, and Belgium. The fair’s summer timing, which avoided the disease-prone season in Ancona, and its fifteen-day duration further enhanced its appeal. In case of epidemic alert, the fair would still proceed, with local residents confined within the city walls and separated from the port zone. At its eighteenth-century height, the Fiera di Senigallia was a major commercial event, drawing up to 50,000 foreign visitors and 500 ships annually. Merchants from at least eight nations — among them the Ottoman Empire, Scandinavia, Britain, and Central Europe — took part, trading in grain, spices, textiles, and luxury goods.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-k/> This vibrant era came to an end after Italian unification. In 1869, the new Italian government abolished Senigallia’s franchigia, stripping the city of its free-port status and bringing the historic fair to a close.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-u/> In the same spirit, this year’s Biennale fair continues virtually — on a platform created by several participants from the Fauve collective. You can explore available works at: 🔗 24–39 Virtual Fair – Photography <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-o/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-b/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-n/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-p/>
La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skutkht-mcujltt-x/>   Share  <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-fb-skutkht-mcujltt-c/>   Tweet  <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-tw-skutkht-mcujltt-q/>   Share  <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-li-skutkht-mcujltt-a/>   Forward  <consigneditdisergeplantureux.forwardtomyfriend.com/d-mcujltt-7D15CFF3-skutkht-l-f> ATELIER 41 Via Fratelli Bandiera 41 60019 Senigallia Italy Preferences <consigneditdisergeplantureux.updatemyprofile.com/d-skutkht-7D15CFF3-mcujltt-z> | Unsubscribe <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-u-skutkht-mcujltt-yh/>

Now that the intense opening days of the Biennale — with their inaugurations, talks, screenings, and the collectors’ fair — have passed, we can begin to share, more calmly, a series of postcard-like messages. One each day, for the next three weeks. No images? Click here <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-e-skulkhy-mcujltt-e/> BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-r/> Among the artists featured in this year’s IV Biennale of Senigallia, we begin with local photographer Giorgio Cutini. His works are exhibited on the first floor of the Palazzetto Baviera, as part of the section « Cinque Fotografi di Oggi », part of the main exhibition « I Misteri della Fotografia ». Here are a few photos from the installation — with students and Erasmus participants from the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France in Valenciennes carefully placing the wall labels.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-y/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-j/> In this series, Giorgio Cutini explores the theme of rest as an inner space, where the photograph no longer represents the visible, but what remains when the visible withdraws. Requie(m) is a meditation on blackness. Photography thus returns to being a ritual, a suspension.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-t/> For those who enjoyed the three prints by Giorgio Cutini on view at the Biennale, a much larger selection — 45 works in total — can be seen nearby in the town of Macerata, at Laboratorio 41 <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-i/>. We visited the exhibition yesterday evening with several artists from the Biennale. It was a wonderful gathering that ended by the sea, with the typical cuisine of the Marche region — as always, simple and generous. On that occasion, we also discovered the extraordinary Teatro Sferisterio, a former jeu de paume and bullfighting arena that has become one of the most charming opera houses in Italy — and a well-kept secret among European performers.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-d/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-h/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-k/> « Requie(m) is both a final landing and a new beginning in Giorgio Cutini’s artistic journey — a work composed of 45 photographs, currently exhibited at Laboratorio 41 Art Gallery. It marks the closing chapter of his tetralogy Canto delle stagioni, but more importantly, it opens a space for visual meditation. At its core lies a fundamental gesture: subtraction. Cutini does not seek to show, but to allow things to emerge. As Jung wrote, “black is the color of beginnings.” And it is within the deepest black that the artist places his deactivated objects — stripped of function, emptied of narrative — returning them to us as minimal, silent signs of an absence that still resonates. Born from a personal memory — the fleeting echo of a lost father — Requie(m) becomes an intimate journey that touches on the universal. These photographs are not meant to be seen, but listened to. In the visual silence they evoke, the image becomes a threshold; black becomes a generative womb, a space of waiting, of searching, rather than a place of visual consumption. In a world saturated with noise and images, Cutini takes a countercurrent path: he creates photographs that do not intrude, but ask for respect — that offer no answers, but open spaces. » — Barbara Caterbetti
Giorgio Cutini has published a beautiful book of this work, in only 250 copies.
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-u/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-o/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-b/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-n/> Giorgio Cutini has published a beautiful book of this work, which can be requested directly from the artist. If you’re passing through the Marche region, you may even have the chance to meet him in person. The book is available at cost price (€95 plus shipping). You can contact him at: cutinigiorgio@gmail.com <mailto:cutinigiorgio@gmail.com> www.giorgiocutini.it/requiem/ <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-p/> <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-z/>
La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org <mailto:fotografia@atelier41.org>
<transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-l-skulkhy-mcujltt-v/>   Share  <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-fb-skulkhy-mcujltt-s/>   Tweet  <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-tw-skulkhy-mcujltt-g/>   Share  <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-li-skulkhy-mcujltt-w/>   Forward  <consigneditdisergeplantureux.forwardtomyfriend.com/d-mcujltt-7D15CFF3-skulkhy-l-yd> ATELIER 41 Via Fratelli Bandiera 41 60019 Senigallia Italy Preferences <consigneditdisergeplantureux.updatemyprofile.com/d-skulkhy-7D15CFF3-mcujltt-yh> | Unsubscribe <transmission.plantureux.it/t/d-u-skulkhy-mcujltt-yk/>