The Hidden Photobooks: Venezia
Venezia
Gianni Berengo Gardin
Istituto superiore per la storia della fotografia, Palermo, 2006
As much as I cannot seem to commit this photographer’s name to memory, I love his work.
The first photograph I ever saw of his was the famous Vaporetto, an unbelievably complex layered image of passengers on one of the Venetian waterbuses and reproduced here in cropped and uncropped versions. No less an authority than Henri Cartier-Bresson numbered this one of the 80 most important photographs ever taken.
In recording all strata of society, Berengo Gardin’s stunning (and here beautifully-reproduced) black and white photographs taken in the Venice of the 1950s and early ‘60s, seem to me worthy European cousins of Robert Frank’s “The Americans”.
An absolute inspiration, must be seen to be believed.
When not part of the current display, you can find it here: folio DG674.7B4 (World History- Italy – Northern Italy – Venice – pictorial works)
-MG
Come along to the Main Library on North Street to take a look for yourself. This book is part of The Hidden Photobooks display which is running from 1 – 30 September and is part of the St Andrews Photography Festival. Everyone is welcome and the event is free. Check out the Library Instagram for photographs Marcus has chosen from his own work to accompany these blog posts.