Mario Giacomelli
Overview
Mario Giacomelli (1925-2000) was born Senigallia, Italy. As a young man, he worked as a typographer, painting on weekends and writing poetry. Inspired by the wartime movies of filmmakers like Fellini, Giacomelli taught himself photography. The Italian photographer Giuseppe Cavalli had moved to Senigallia and was eager to form a club that would promote photography as art. In 1953 the Misa club was formed, with officers Cavalli as president and Giacomelli as treasurer. In 1956, Giacomelli joined the La Bussola group of photographers and then the national ANSA agency. He specialised in black-and-white land scenes, devising his own way of shooting, using the little-known Kobell Press camera.
Starting in the mid-1950s, Giacomelli began to win photographic prizes and exhibit in group shows many of which focused on post-war humanistic photography, such as the exhibition entitled, “What is Man?” that originated in Frankfurt and then travelled internationally. In 1975, the British photographer Bill Brandt selected Giacomelli for his major exhibition, “The Land: 20th Century Landscape Photographs,” shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In 1980, Giacomelli published his first and only solo book, Mario Giacomelli, fotografe, edited by Angelo Schwarz.
Featured Exhibitions

Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto [12 priests], 1961-63
Gelatin silver print

Io non ho mani che mi accarezzino il volto [priest being carried], 1961-1963
Gelatin silver print

Il Non Ho Mani Che Accarezzino Il Volto (Pretini), 1961
Gelatin silver print


Presa Di Coscienze Sulla Natura, 1954-2000
Gelatin silver print

Presa Di Coscienza Sulla Natura, 1954-2000
Gelatin silver print


Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Viso, I Pretini, 1961 – 1963
Gelatin silver print




