ITALIAN HUMANIST PHOTOGRAPHY FROM FASCISM TO THE COLD WAR ITALIAN HUMANIST PHOTOGRAPHY FROM FASCISM TO THE COLD WAR Martina Caruso Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc LONDON • OXFORD • NEW YORK • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway London New York WC1B 3DP NY 10018 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2016 © Martina Caruso, 2016 Martina Caruso has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are the author's own. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: HB: 978-1-4742-4693-4 ePDF: 978-1-4742-4696-5 ePub: 978-1-4742-4694-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Caruso, Martina, author. Title: Italian humanist photography from fascism to the Cold War / Martina Caruso. Description: London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, Plc, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016003924| ISBN 9781474246934 (hardback) | ISBN 9781474246965 (epdf) | ISBN 9781474246941 (ePub) Subjects: LCSH: Photography--Italy--History--20th century. | Photography, Artistic--History--20th century. | Humanism in art. Classification: LCC TR79 .C375 2016 | DDC 770/.945--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016003924 Cover design by NickE Cover image: Ferruccio Ferroni, Ballerini, 1955 © Lidia Baruccia Ferroni Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India Everybody in Italy is a Marxist, just as everybody in Italy is a Catholic. PIER PAOLO PASOLINI1 In Italy the fascists are divided into two categories: the fascists and the antifascists. ENNIO FLAIANO2 CONTENTS List of Illustrations viii Acknowledgments xiv Introduction: Situating Italian Humanist Photography 1 1 Antifascist Photography under Fascism 13 2 Photography, Power, and Humiliation in the Second World War 51 3 Christ Stopped at Eboli: An Anthropology of the South 85 4 Humanist Photography and The “Catholic” Family of Man 119 FINE (“THE END”): La Dolce Vita and the Burst into Technicolor 155 Notes 161 Bibliography 188 Index 199 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 0.1 Henri Cartier-Bresson, Abruzzo, Scanno, 1951 © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos 2 Figure 0.2 Mario Giacomelli, Scanno, 1957–1959 © Simone Giacomelli. Courtesy of the Archivio Mario Giacomelli Senigallia 2 Figure 0.3 Paul Strand, The Family, Luzzara, Italy, 1953 published in P. Strand and C. Zavattini, Un Paese (Torino: Einaudi, 1955) © Aperture Foundation Inc., Paul Strand Archive 3 Figure 0.4 Gianni Berengo Gardin, Untitled, c. 1975, Un paese vent’anni dopo, 1975 © Gianni Berengo Gardin. Courtesy of the photographer 4 Figure 0.5 Leonard Freed, Naples, 1956 © Leonard Freed/Magnum Photos 9 Figure 0.6 Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, Woman with child (Donna con bambino), silver bromide gelatin, 1896–98 published in A. Scotti ed., Il Quarto Stato/Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo (Milano: Mazzotta, 1976). Courtesy of Associazione Pellizza da Volpedo 9 Figure 1.1 Achille Bologna, Poster for The Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution, 1932. Courtesy Fondazione Micheletti. Museo dell’Industria e del Lavoro di Brescia 14 Figure 1.2 Achille Bologna, First heartache (Primo dolore), in Luci ed ombre: annuario della fotografia artistica italiana, exhibition catalogue (Turin, 1924), p. XXX 15 Figure 1.3 School room (Interno di una scuola), L’Italia Fascista in Cammino, 1932. Source: Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, Rome 19 Figure 1.4 Adolfo Porry-Pastorel, Rome. 31 August 1931. New ONB recruits in an Opera Nazionale Balilla campsite on the periphery of the capital (Roma, 3 agosto 1931. Nuove reclute dell’ONB in un campeggio dell’Opera Nazionale Balilla alla periferia della capitale), T. Farabola, Farabola: un archivio italiano (Milan, 1980), p. 14 20 Figure 1.5 Luciano Ridenti, Rice is wheat (Il riso è frumento), Tempo, 8 (July 20, 1939), pp. 12–17. Courtesy of the Biblioteca Comunale Centrale “Palazzo Sormani,” Milan 22 Figure 1.6 Anon., New Women of Orvieto (Donne Nuove a Orvieto), Tempo, 10 (August 3, 1939), pp. 10–14. Courtesy of the Biblioteca Comunale Centrale “Palazzo Sormani,” Milano 23 Figure 1.7 Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva, Mother (Madre), ante- 1933, silver bromide gelatin transferred onto paper, Coll. Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Fondo M. T. Peretti Griva and G. Galante Garrone, Turin 25 Figure 1.8 Carlo Levi, Child with goat’s head (Bambino con testa di capretto), c.1935–1936, Christ Stopped at Eboli (Einaudi: Torino, 1945) © Carlo Levi, Raffealla Acetoso, by SIAE 2015 30 Figure 1.9 Anon., Monteponi Miners (Minatori della Monteponi), and Interior of a shop in Macomer (Interno d’una bottega a Macomer), Giuseppe Dessì, “Appunti per un ritratto . .,” Primato (April 1, 1940), pp. 2–3. Source: Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, Rome 32 Figure 1.10 Leo Longanesi, The Italians of the Crisis—Examples of Style (Gli italiani della crisi—Esempi di stile), L’Italiano (April 1932). Source: Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, Rome 34 Figure 1.11 Anon./Leo Longanesi, Untitled, in The Custodian of Napoleon’s House (“Il custode della casa di Napoleone”) di Stella Nera, L’Italiano, a. 7 n. 16 (December 1932). Source: Biblioteca nazionale di Roma 35 Figure 1.12 Cesare Barzacchi, Leo Longanesi, 1942 © Marco Barzacchi 37 Figure 1.13 Cesare Barzacchi, Little Gypsy Girl and Parrot (Zingarella e pappagallo), 1938 © Marco Barzacchi 38 Figure 1.14 Tommaso Cascella, The Ox of San Zopito (Il bue di San Zopito), 1941, fresco, 477 × 633 cm. Museo Nazionale delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, Rome © Tommaso Cascella by SIAE 2015 40 Figure 1.15 Pasquale De Antonis, Snake man (Serpentaro), c. 1939 © Riccardo De Antonis. Courtesy of Archivio De Antonis, Rome 42 9 Figure 1.16 Pasquale De Antonis, Men and Snakes (Uomini e serpi), Documento, April 1941 © Riccardo De Antonis. Courtesy of Archivio De Antonis, Rome 43 Figure 1.17 Francesco Paolo Michetti, The Vow (Il Voto), 1880, oil on canvas, 250 × 700 cm, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome © Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome 44 Figure 1.18 Luciano Morpurgo, Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of SS. Trinità (Sunday after Pentecost) (Pellegrinaggio al santuario della SS. Trinità (Domenica dopo Pentecoste)), 1917–37 © Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione, Rome 46 Figure 2.1 Mussolini threshes wheat (Mussolini trebbia il grano), cover of La Domenica del Corriere, July 17, 1938. Source: Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, Rome 54 Figure 2.2 Mussolini visits farms in the Agro Pontino during the threshing period. Pontinia (Mussolini visita le aziende agricole dell’Agro Pontino nei giorni della trebbiatura. Pontinia), August 1936 © Istituto LUCE, Rome 55 Figure 2.3 Cover of Tempo, May 7, 1942. Source: Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, Rome 57 Figure 2.4 Advertisement for Borsalino hats, in Fotografia (Domus) 1943. Source: Fotografia (Domus: Milan, 1943). Courtesy of Andrea Jemolo 58 Figure 2.5 LUCE, Artillery of the Armed Forces (Artiglieria del Corpo d’Armata), 1937 © Istituto LUCE, Rome 61 Figure 2.6 Curzio Malaparte, Untitled, c. 1939. Courtesy of the Fondazione Biblioteca di Via Senato, Milan 63 Figure 2.7 Giuseppe Pagano, Corfu, 1941, cover of Costruzioni- Casabella, a. xvi, n. 183, March 1943. Source: Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, Milan 64 Figure 2.8 Alberto Lattuada, La Passeggiata, A. Lattuada, Occhio Quadrato (Milan, 1941) © Alinari/Alberto Lattuada 68 Figure 2.9 Robert Capa, Troina, Sicily, August 1943. An American soldier (left) and an Italian policeman (right) © Robert Capa/ International Center of Photography/Magnum Photos 70 Figure 2.10 Carl Mydans, The Abbey of Monte Cassino, Italy, after Allied bombing in the spring of 1944, C. Mydans, Carl Mydans, Photojournalist (New York, 1985) © Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection 71 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 2.11 Federico Patellani, Nuova Cassino, Frosinone 1945 © Federico Patellani—Regione Lombardia/Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Milan 72 Figure 2.12 The Clandestine Italian Army (L’esercito clandestino italiano), Nuovo Mondo, vol. 1 n. 1 (March 19, 1945). Source: Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, Rome 73 Figure 2.13 British War Office, Patriots, n. BNA 18533 (XP) © Imperial War Museum, London 74 Figure 2.14 Anon., Poster shown at the Exposition de la résistance italienne in France, 1946. Source: Istituto nazionale per la storia del movimento di liberazione in Italia (INSMLI), Milan 76 Figure 2.15 CVL General Command for Occupied Italy (Comando Generale per l’Italia occupata), Mass at camp for the men of the Nino Nannetti division on the plateau of Cansiglio, Belluno area (Messa al campo per gli uomini della divisione Nino Nannetti nell’altipiano del Cansiglio, zona di Belluno), 295 × 235 mm, 1944, Archivio Storico—Nannetti, busta 1 n. 14, fondo Corpo volontari della libertà. Source: Istituto nazionale per la storia del movimento di liberazione in Italia (INSMLI), Milan 77 Figure 2.16 Gabriele Mucchi, Murdered Partisan (Partigiano Ucciso), oil on canvas, 60 × 50 cm, 1945, private collection, Milan © Antonio Mucchi by SIAE 2015 78 Figure 2.17 Noi Donne panel at the Exhibition of the Liberation, June 1945. Source: Istituto nazionale per la storia del movimento di liberazione in Italia (INSMLI), Milan 79 Figure 2.18 Luigi Crocenzi, An Eye on Milan (Occhio su Milano), Il Politecnico, May 1, 1946.