In the era of Covid19, the way of experiencing culture has changed but despite the restrictions and closures, author photography has never been so present even at distance.
In 2021 the photographic exhibitions in digital format will restart: in short, a year full of news for those who love portraits, street or social photography is expected.
There are those who organize workshops on Zoom and those who use social channels, every Saturday until February 20, to produce a miniseries dedicated to female creativity. Thus the Mudec of Milan, proposes 10X10, ten mini – documentaries, from photojournalism to reportage, from cinema to fashion, from design to politics, which tell the life and techniques of ten great women of the twentieth century who paved the way for the world of images to entire generations of photographers.
Dorothea Lange, Cindy Sherman, Gerda Taro, Eve Arnold, Marirosa Toscani Ballo, Tina Modotti, Inge Morath, Imogen Cunningham, Lisetta Carmi and Margaret Bourke-White have revolutionized the history of photography.
January Portraits
Dorothea Lange – The revolution of the concept of journalism
She was born in New Jersey in 1895.
She learned the techniques of large-format portrait at the Clarence White School in New York in 1917. Consequently the following year she opened her photographic studio in San Francisco.
However, Dorothea soon abandoned portraiture to devote herself to social photography, documenting the social problems linked to depression in rural areas.
She was the first woman to work for the Farm Security Administration as a photojournalist.
Cindy Sherman – The art of transference to break down stereotypes
Enrolled at the State University of New York to study art, she was rejected at the preliminary examination in photography. At the beginning of her career, she devoted herself to painting with self-portraits and reproductions of photographs taken from magazines.
Only in 1975 her first photographic experiments come to light with the Untitled A-E collection.
In Untitled # 479 we find all the ingredients that will make her one of the most influential and well-known contemporary artists: serial self-portraits, make-up, disguises and the ability to be one, none and a hundred thousand at the same time.
Gerda Taro – The “girl with the Leica” who immortalized the battles
Credit: Gerda Taro
She was born in Stuttgart in 1910 but due to her Jewish origins, she was forced to take refuge in Paris during the Nazi regime.
In 1936, already a militant and strong supporter of left-wing politics, she decided to frame the victims, fighters, women and children protagonists of the Spanish War, becoming the first war photojournalist to fall on the field during the course of her profession.
Eve Arnold – Empathy and the female condition through reportage
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Russian immigrant parents, her passion for photography was born in 1946.
Working as a clerk in a film development facility in New York City allowed her to learn about the various techniques and styles that led her to work with Alexey Brodovitch.
Her career has always alternated between reportage, photos of social denunciation and portraits of celebrities from entertainment to politics.
She was the first woman to join Magnum Photo, an agency that at the time welcomed the best-known names in the photographic landscape.
Marirosa Toscani Ballo – From reportage to Still Life
Marirosa Toscani, the eldest daughter of Fedele Toscani, historical reporter for Corriere della Sera, was born in Milan in 1931.
At the age of eighteen, after her father got sick, she was promoted to photojournalist on the field.
However, this experience allows her to follow social events, sports and national disasters such as, for example, the Polesine flood.
After meeting Aldo Ballo, in 1951, Marirosa devoted herself to Still Life photography, giving life to the Ballo photo studio, a point of reference for all the most important designers in the world.
Links:
G. Mottarelli, Viaggio nell’identità. Cindy Sherman alla Fondation Louis Vuitton di Parigi
https://www.grandi-fotografi.com/dorothea-lange
M. Travaglini, 2020, La breve vita di Gerda Taro, la “ragazza con la Leica”
https://www.evearnold.com/
I. De Filippo, 2017, Catturare su pellicola l’essenza del design italiano. Conversazione con Marirosa Toscani Ballo
