EUGENI FORCANO | PHOTOGRAPHER

Eugeni Forcano (Canet de Mar, 1926) entered the world of photography like a whirlwind, answering Josep Vergés and Néstor Luján's invitation to joint the magazine Destino in 1960. Self-taught and intuitive, he gazed with wisdom, passion and irony at all around him. In 1964, Joan Perucho highlighted the human depths of Forcano's work, whilst in 1966, Josep Pla, always sparing in this praise, said of him: "He is a great photographer, a great artist. He is different and unpredictable. Singular". According to José Corredor–Matheos Forcano "makes us to see that reality is always surprising". Forcano has the gift of anticipation. Andrés Trapiello insists that "the most important thing in his photographs is the beating of all that is still alive", whilst Josep Maria Espinàs considers that "you can hear his characters speak".
Photography marked Forcano's life forever. An evolutionist and a dreamer, his career embraced different stages: fashion, illustration, symbolism... as well as painstaking research into colour as a new form of artistic expression. Jorge Rueda, writing about Forcano's colour photography, congratulated him: "At last you have managed to photograph sighs". Javier Pérez Andújar defines him as follows: "He is, more than an avant-garde photographer, a vitalist photographer who understands the language of his time".
The facts would appear to confirm this. According to Josep Maria Huertas Claveria, Forcano is "one of the greatest photographers Catalonia has ever produced".

     

All images © Eugeni Forcano

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ARTHUR LEIPZIG | PHOTOGRAPHER

"Arthur Leipzig's career as a photographer fulfills the ideals of the great era of American photo-journalism. His start with the Photo League of the 1940's, his freelance work in the 1950's and 60's, and his years of full-time teaching with more freedom to choose his assignments in the 1970's and 80's, illustrate the opportunities and hardships of a life in photography. The photographs in this catalogue celebrate Leipzig's art - a life work that has been a sustained creative response to the challenge of photography as a means for expressing fundamental human experience."- Bonnie Yochelson

1946 Opening Night in the opera

1950, Stickball NY

Tammany Haall, 1947

1954 Winter fishing in the north Atlanting

Clinic, Mexico, 1959

Hide and Seek, 1943

Rain, 1945

Sleeping Child, 1950

Subway Sleepers, 1950

Turning Barrel, 1952

Arthur Leipzig was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918. After studying photography at the Photo League in 1942, he became a staff photographer for the Newspaper PM, where he worked for the next four years. During this period, he completed his first photo essay, on children's street games. In 1946, he left PM. After a short stint at International News Photos, he became a freelance photojournalist, traveling on assignments around the world, contributing work to such periodicals as The Sunday New York Times, This Week, Fortune, Look, and Parade. Edward Steichen encouraged him to teach, which he did for twenty-eight years at Long Island University, where he is now Professor Emeritus.

 

 

All images  ©  Arthur Leipzig

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ALFREDO CAMISA | PHOTOGRAPHER

Alfredo Camisa nato a Bologna, ma fiorentino di adozione per otto anni, tra il 1953 e il 1961, dedicò alla fotografia tutti i ritagli di tempo che la sua professione di chimico gli concedeva..
La maggior parte delle fotorafie riprodotte nel seguito, si colloca fra il periodo iniziale, completamente dedicato al formalismo, alla ricerca sulla composizione e sui toni, e la produzione più conosciuta dell’Autore, cioè quella del ritratto della figura ambientata, assai spesso impropriamente (almeno nel suo caso) definita neorealista.
L’impegno di Camisa nella fotografia subisce negli anni un’accelerazione, dopo i felici exploits raggiunti con le serie di foto dell’Africa, della Sicilia, delle Processioni e del Teatro, molte delle quali vennero pubblicate da “il Mondo”, culminerà con un coinvolgimento così totale da farlo paradossalmente fermare  di fronte ad un bivio non più eludibile, ed optare - senza possibilità di appello - per una dolorosa ma necessaria rinuncia all’attività fotografica.. Già nel periodo iniziale si lascia alle spalle delle felici intuizioni.
Alcuni fotogrammi della serie “Mondine”, alcuni ritratti già carichi di personalità e contenuti innovativi hanno fornito un contributo determinante ed irreversibile allo sconvolgimento delle convenzionali ed arretrate tematiche dominanti nella fotografia italiana di quegli anni.
Ne è data una “Nuova Fotografia Italiana” più al passo con i tempi alla quale Camisa ha apportato il suo sostanziale contributo. Né va dimenticata la sua schiva ed operosa  attività di collegamento e promozione culturale del lavoro di amici e innovatori della fotografia come Branzi, Giacomelli e Monti.

Alfredo Camisa, Inverno, 1956

Alfredo Camisa, Venditore di angurie, 1956.

‘Uomini Della Confraternita'

la fabbrica-1950

mondine

giocatori di domino

pescatore d’Adda

osteria 1954

  siesta 1955

elezioni in sicilia 1955

  il garzone del panettiere

Bancarella 1955

All images © ALFREDO CAMISA

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