Estimate
€ 5.000 - 6.000
Aggiudicato
Current bid Starting bid
€ 4.500
Your offer is the highest Your bid doesn't meet the reserve price La tua offerta è stata superata(0 bids, reserve not met)
At auction on Wednesday 18 June 2025 at 16:00
Information
C-print mounted on aluminium
cm 88,5 x 109 (cm 64 x 84,5 picture) | 34.8 x 42.9 in. (25.1 x 33.2 in. picture)
Edition 11 of 35
Label titled, dated, numbered and monog. in black ink on the verso
To understand these photographs, it is necessary to reconstruct one of the most unique sets ever imagined. Vitali shoots with his 20x25 view camera from a very tall tripod placed in one case facing the beach and in the other, holding it at the edge and making the sea the centre of attention. However, he is not interested in the landscape but in those who live in it: he himself declared, after returning from abroad and settling in Lucca, that he wanted to understand with his pictures who were the Italians in that historical phase characterized by Berlusconi's electoral victory. Even if realized with other technical and expressive media, this work evokes the reportage spirit but veers it to the anthropological: instead of approaching the subjects to create a story, he keeps them at a proper distance and immobilizes their stories in a single image; instead of sharing their experience, he observes their dynamics with the gaze of an entomologist. The highly accurate and precious prints where colors take on delicate shades and the great depth of field, which brings all planes into focus, allow the viewer to follow the details of the scenes: as in the paintings of Bruegel the Elder, the individual's postures make us imagine stories, and the details (the towels on the sand, the parked bicycles, the flags moved by the wind, the curious elegance of the trash cans) fill the scene in an admirable balance.
cm 88,5 x 109 (cm 64 x 84,5 picture) | 34.8 x 42.9 in. (25.1 x 33.2 in. picture)
Edition 11 of 35
Label titled, dated, numbered and monog. in black ink on the verso
Provenance
Contemporary Art, Dorotheum, Wien, May 16th 2016, lot 224
Massimo Vitali (Como 1944) finished high school and studied photography in London at the London College of Printing and devoted himself to reportage working with European agencies and especially with Simon Guttmann's Report. Disappointed by the expectations placed on concerned photography, in the 1980s he worked as a director of photography in television and cinema and then returned to photography this time with a more creative attitude. He thus invented in 1994, with the only view camera that the robbers of his equipment left him, a new project that led him to photograph from above the Tuscan beaches crowded with bathers, thanks to which he obtained among gallery owners and collectors a great international success. To understand these photographs, it is necessary to reconstruct one of the most unique sets ever imagined. Vitali shoots with his 20x25 view camera from a very tall tripod placed in one case facing the beach and in the other, holding it at the edge and making the sea the centre of attention. However, he is not interested in the landscape but in those who live in it: he himself declared, after returning from abroad and settling in Lucca, that he wanted to understand with his pictures who were the Italians in that historical phase characterized by Berlusconi's electoral victory. Even if realized with other technical and expressive media, this work evokes the reportage spirit but veers it to the anthropological: instead of approaching the subjects to create a story, he keeps them at a proper distance and immobilizes their stories in a single image; instead of sharing their experience, he observes their dynamics with the gaze of an entomologist. The highly accurate and precious prints where colors take on delicate shades and the great depth of field, which brings all planes into focus, allow the viewer to follow the details of the scenes: as in the paintings of Bruegel the Elder, the individual's postures make us imagine stories, and the details (the towels on the sand, the parked bicycles, the flags moved by the wind, the curious elegance of the trash cans) fill the scene in an admirable balance.
Contact
Condition report
To request a Condition Report, please contact fotografia@finarte.it
The department will provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Please note that what Finarte declares with respect to the state of conservation of the objects corresponds only to a qualified opinion and that we are not professional conservators or restorers.
We urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. We always suggest prospective buyers to inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition during the exhibition days as indicated in the catalog.
More Lots
90
Oliviero Toscani
Manette, campagna pubblicitaria United Colors of Benetton, 1989
Estimate € 3.500 - 4.500
Starting bid € 3.000
