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Fabrizio La Torre - Iconics by Fabrizio La Torre - Set # 2 - Roma - 1956 - Vintage Photographs

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Fabrizio La Torre
Iconics by Fabrizio La Torre - Set # 2 - Roma - 1956 - Vintage Photographs
1956

About the Item

Artworks sold in perfect condition : Set # 2 composed of 5 Gallery Print 30x40 cm This is an exceptional offer that we are presenting today. For almost four years, here on 1stdibs, art lovers have been able to discover the work of Fabrizio La Torre, this Italian neo-realist photographer who was able to capture daily life so well in the 1950s and 60s. In Europe and Asia, exhibitions and books have made it possible to become familiar with some of his photos, which have become “iconic”. Collectors were able to acquire these works of art, of museum quality using Fine Art heavyweight papers & pigments inks and in a very limited edition (5 copies), whose perfection justifies a certain price. But many of you asked us for prints at a reasonable price. We have finally found the appropriate technical solution: high quality prints, to remain faithful to the tradition of Brussels Art Edition, gallery quality prints are produce on a Hahnemühle Sustainable Photo Satin paper optimized for this application. The first sets are dedicated to Roma and America, each of 5 of the most famous photos by Fabrizio La Torre, issued in an edition of 500 copies. The price of each set is under 500$. To decorate your home, your office, your Italian restaurant or your vintage business, these photos known and appreciated throughout the world will be an exceptional artistic element. This offer is valid within the stock limit of 500 copies per set. Do not hesitate to contact us for a specific application or quantity. Description of this 2nd set : - "Mezzogiorno al Pantheon", 1958. A bird's-eye view of this Pantheon Square and its monumental fountain which supports an Egyptian obelisk, around noon, when the Romans meet there for a moment of conversation. - "Acqua e fantasia", 1956. One of Fabrizio La Torre's best-known photos, that fleeting moment when the prankster is about to water the honorable man in the hat with his bottle of water. It was a day of immense flooding of the Tiber, and the Romans gathered on the bridges to see the tumult of this usually placid river. - "Per vederci chiaro", 1962. To see clearly, the incredible stall of this lighting shop. Rome's city center, made up of Renaissance palaces or barely newer buildings, was never intended for retail. Everyone had to fend for themselves. How long did she take to take out her stock every morning? - "L’attesa", 1962, a woman leaning against the wall of a "vicolo" in a dark and narrow alley, seems to be waiting for who knows what. Fascinated by this strange scene and by the play of the sun in the linen, the photographer also began to wait for the perfect moment for this photo. -"Rotondita" 1962, On Via del Tritone, an elegant exit from the small underground passage which made it possible to avoid automobile traffic. A photo that has become a great classic. This print is part of a series that was produced on the occasion of an exhibition in Paris in November 2014, on the occasion of the Month of Photo. This photo was made in 1963, printed later, the negative was digitized during the artist's lifetime and the technical parameters (framing, contrast, light, etc.) was approved by him. This is a very high quality fine art prints on 310 gr/m² Fine Art paper with museum quality pigment inks. Fabrizio La Torre (b. Rome 1921 d. Brussels 2014) was an Italian neo-realist photographer working during the period 1950-1960 who left behind a body of work focussing on three specific geographical areas: Italy, North America, which he spent several months visiting in 1955 and Asia where he lived for five years (1956-61). Fascinated by the task of capturing moments of truth and intimacy which characterise the human condition all over the world, he gives us moments of insight into life which reach out to us bridging time and distance. He holds up to us an affectionate and benign mirror, always knowing, sometimes amused but never mocking. In 1965, success came knocking at his door: he was offered the possibility of exhibitions and publication but he turned it down for reasons he never fully explained. The most we can do is note that this was also the time when the immense talent and historical importance of the photographic works, produced a century earlier by his grandfather Enrico Valenziani, were discovered. This may have made him feel he could not compete, particularly as he came from a family which was possessed of multiple artistic talents but in which no-one claimed to be an artist. Perhaps he saw himself as “a photographer” who was just the grandson of one of the founding fathers of Italian photography. Who knows? In 1970 he closed his archives and gave away his cameras. He ceased to see his photography as an act of creation but merely as a kind of notebook of his many travels for his job. In 2009 he agreed to re-open his archives and to have his photos restored and digitised. He also permitted the first printed edition of his art photos. Far from rejecting the switch to digital photography, he welcomed the freedom to render the shades, the tones, the “sfumature” which photo labs in the 1960s saw as “imperfections”, at a time when hyper contrast was the big thing, deep blacks and anaemic whites were all the rage. Fabrizio La Torre’s vision of the world was full of different shades. The last few years of his life were spent hard at work. He may have been a little unsteady on his legs but there was nothing wrong with his head - memory intact, imparting clear instructions and sharing many reminiscences. With Jean-Pierre De Neef and his technical team he fine-tuned every single print, perfectly willing to start all over again if necessary to achieve what he had intended 50 years earlier when the photo was taken - the desired composition, lighting and contrast. The exhibitions, the publications, the encounters with his audience came thick and fast: in Paris at the Italian Institute of Culture in 2010, in Brussels at the Ixelles Museum in 2011, followed by the magnificent Retrospective organised in 2014 in the Principality of Monaco. For a year he worked on a daily basis, taking advantage of this major event to give his final instructions. Fate can be cruel: his heart finally gives out just two weeks before the opening of the exhibition which covers 800 square metres. However, he knows he has done what was necessary, he has passed on his instructions which embody his desire to bring to life his photographic achievements which are centred entirely on the human dimension, man’s adventures, his dreams, his fight for a better life. Beginning in 2017, his curator, François Bayle, assisted by the team at Brussels Art Edition started work on the photos taken by Fabrizio La Torre in Asia during his five year stay in Thailand (1956-61). In November 2018, in Bangkok, a book entitled “Bangkok That Was” was published in English, which brings together these photos and, using the original notes left by the artist, tells the story of his life in Asia and expresses his affection for its people. An exhibition with the same title took place for two months at the Serindia Gallery. Afterwards Fabrizio’s photos were taken to their permanent home in Bangkok, the cultural venue of the Central Embassy Mall where they are displayed and on sale all year round. Meanwhile a new exhibition is planned in Bangkok and a new book published based on the pioneering efforts of Fabrizio La Torre in photographing in 1958 in the storerooms of the National Museum in Bangkok the painstaking lacquerwork representations of daily life of the Siamese people two centuries earlier. At the very beginning of 2020 Jean-Pierre De Neef, François Bayle and their teams were working enthusiastically on two specific projects: the exhibition and the book on the lacquerwork mentioned above and a very fine exhibition planned for 2021 in New York. Then along came the virus and upset the best-laid plans. The projects have been postponed, in all probability for a year. In order to continue funding preparations for these two major projects, the high quality art photos, validated by the artist himself before his death, are now on sale. This is an opportunity for collectors and enthusiasts to acquire the works of an Italian artist of recognised talent whose works are attractively priced before the exhibition in the USA, thus offering the advantage of a very strong potential for growth.

Creator:

Fabrizio La Torre (1921 - 2014, Italian)

Creation Year:

1956

Dimensions:

Height: 16.54 in (42 cm)Width: 11.82 in (30 cm)Depth: 0.12 in (3 mm)

Medium:

Archival Pigment

Movement & Style:

Photorealist

Period:

1950-1959

Framing:

Framing Options Available

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Brussels, BE

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU1570214203492

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Fabrizio La Torre, who was born in Rome (Italy) on 11 January 1921 and died in Brussels (Belgium) on 27 August 2014, he was an Italian photographer active for a 15 year period in the 1950s–1960s and whose neorealistic and intimistic works are typical of cinema and photography of that time in Italy. La Torre said that “his parents gave him his first camera, a Bakelite body with non-adjustable lens and focus which produced rather strange half format 18x24 millimeter negatives. It was with it that he took his first photos.” Since then, he tried to take pictures at any occasion especially during the different trips he made during his life, “trying to capture the daily life” of the people he encountered. La Torre justified his "frenzy of travel" as a pretext to flee from the paternal model and the resumption of management of a family estate. Since the early 1950s and until the late 1960s, La Torre produced less than 10 thousand photos worldwide. After this period, he gave up photography, gave away or sold his cameras, closed his archives and put them away in boxes where they would remain out of sight for 40 years. In 2009 he agreed to re-open his archives for examination and study and allowed the restoration of a number of negatives. Gradually a first exhibition was prepared, focussing on Rome in the 1950s and ‘60s, “La Vera vita”. By this time he was 90 years old and in failing health. He realised that this was not a time to hold back and decided to cooperate fully in the restoration of his works. He moved to Brussels, in order to benefit from the availability of the technicians and experts which he would need. In 2014, La Torre worked every day on preparations for his Retrospective in Monaco. He realised that this was his last chance to display his works as he thought best. Two weeks before the official inauguration, he died. His ashes would be placed in the little cemetery of Cap d’Ail next door to Monaco where his parents and his sister were already at rest. La Torre never tried to only show the beautiful for fear of "making postcard". For him, "there is only the introduction of the human element that protects from looking like a postcard. This is why my naked landscapes are so rare." Far from the paparazzi, La Torre developed his own style, working alone, ignoring the surprise and amused comments of Roman photographers obsessed with the Via Veneto and its starlets. They did have in common the laboratory to which they took their films, that of the Nannini Brothers in the city centre, two experts in high contrast images and probably the inventors of the concept of "stolen photos", out of focus and slightly grainy to give the impression of privacy revealed.

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Fabrizio La Torre
Iconics by Fabrizio La Torre - Set # 2 - Roma - 1956 - Vintage Photographs
1956

About the Item

1950s Photorealist Black and White Photography

Fabrizio La Torre
Iconics by Fabrizio La Torre - Set # 1 - New York - 1956 - Vintage Photographs, 1956

1950s Photorealist Black and White Photography

Fabrizio La Torre
Iconics by Fabrizio La Torre - Set # 1 - New York - 1956 - Vintage Photographs, 1956

1950s Photorealist Black and White Photography