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Giacomelli's Postwar Italy

The Mario Giacomelli retrospective at the Getty is striking, first for introducing me to this talented photographer, but also because of the diversity of his work.

My eye drifted to his high contrast prints which felt akin to Saul Bass movie posters. This image from around 1957 from his portfolio of the Italian people, La Gente is a particularly good example of the deep blacks set against brilliant whites.

Giacomelli toured Italy to capture the postwar images which we now think of as iconic from the films of the period--the craggy local faces, the children gathering in the town square, the unemployed men. Here an old townswoman approaches.