Fotografia italiana 1955

Robert Mapplethorpe, Herbert Muschamp
teNeues France

Flower are one of the most common subjects for artwork, yet Mapplethorpe excels at bringing something radically new to his flower photographs. Setting them in a universe apart, their poses are classical, reduced to a series of essential forms. Their compositions are profoundly simple but mask a complex dynamic. Each one is evocative, and almost always sexually charged. When photographed by Mapplethorpe, these delicate organisms become almost muscular in their raw power. AUTHOR: Robert Mapplethorpe was born in 1946 and was raised in Long Island, New York. He received a B.F.A. from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. By the early 1980s, he challenged the definition of photography with new techniques and formats. Mapplethorpe continued to create powerful images until his death from AIDS in 1989. 53 colour & 227 duotone photos

Robert Mapplethorpe, Arthur Coleman Danto
TeNeues

This major, long out-of-print survey, widely regarded as the definitive overview of Mapplethorpe's black-and-white photography, is once again available in a new, updated edition. It presents a comprehensive selection of Mapplethorpe's nudes, portraits, self-portraits, floral still lifes and other works, including his best known and most controversial images. Mapplethorpe's choices were both innovative and bold, and his work has continued to resonate since his early death in 1989. His cutting-edge use of homoerotic and other challenging themes has become embedded in our culture, with pervasive echoes not only in the work of other artists but in mainstream advertising as well.

Mario Cresci
Edizioni Meta

Mel Rosenthal
Curbstone Press

Residents of New York City's South Bronx neighborhood live amidst what is frequently described as the most severe and widespread poverty in any U.S. metropolitan area. In the South Bronx of America is a work which, through documentary photographs, counterpointed with statements by residents and by newspaper reports and statistical information, offers both an intimate view of life in this neighborhood and a context for understanding the last two decades of accelerated social decay. In the words of Penny Coleman, New York Times photographer, In the South Bronx of America, "is important because it is not cynical, because it is a sincere attempt to provide the awareness necessary for change."

Gino Oliva
Fantoni & C.

Masafumi Sanai
Heibonsha

Guido Argentini
teNeues Publishing Company

The sculpture of Michelangelo, Rodin, and Brancusi, serve as the inspiration for Guido Argentini's masterly photographs of the female nude. Published together for the first time in this breathtaking collection taken over a period of seventeen years, Argentini's astute focus on the female form achieves the transformation of bodies into objects of art. We are presented with two distinct series of spectacular photos. The first is shot in locations around the world in a way that fuses the body with the landscape while in the second, dancers and gymnasts are photographed in contorted positions in the studio. Covered with a veil of oil or a coat of metallic paint and exquisitely lit, the bodies leap off the page with an astounding three dimensionality.

s.a.
Gordon Fraser

Bepi Zanfron
Agenzia fotografica Zanfron

David Hockney
Alfred A. Knopf

Renato Barilli, Giorgio Celli
Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta

Questo catalogo, leggibile in entrambi i sensi, è dedicato a Franco Fontana e Andrea Micheli, in occasione della mostra milanese allo Spazio Mazzotta, dal 3 dicembre 2005 al 25 febbraio 2006. Le fotografie di Fontana sono accompagnate dal testo di Renato Barilli "Anche la fotografia rinuncia alla camera", mentre quelle di Micheli dal testo di Giorgio Celli "Animali di ogni giorno". Gli scatti di Franco Fontana del periodo 1970-2000, rappresentano un mondo apparentemente improbabile, dove il colore è essenziale perché diventa un modo di vedere "altro", dove il montaggio dei negativi dà vita a paesaggi, ricchi di contrasti. Ne "La galleria degli animali" Micheli manifesta chiaramente una certa predilezione per l'animale urbano e l'uso del bianco e nero.