Estimate
€ 4.000 - 6.000
Aggiudicato
Current bid Starting bid
€ 3.300
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
Gelatin silver print, printed 1970s
cm 50,5 x 60,8 | 19.9 x 23.9 in.
Photographer's credit stamp on the verso
Io non ho mani che mi accarezzino il volto (I have no hands to caress my face) is the best known and most appreciated work because it contains, in the blinding white of the snow on which the black of the seminarians' tunics stands out, the most evident characteristics of Giacomelli's style. However, it is necessary to study this image well because the contrast is more metaphorical than aesthetic, comparing the happiness of the protagonists and the emotional loneliness that awaits them. It should also be remembered that here the true soul of the photographer from Senigallia is revealed: he is a refined interpreter of poetry, in this case of the homonymous lyrics by David Maria Turoldo. Absolutely fascinating Scanno (the only Italian photograph in the 1964 exhibition ‘The Photographers Eye’ at MoMA) is a true exercise in compositional style: the two women in the foreground crossing the space diagonally are contrasted, in a brilliant perspective shift, by the figure of the child advancing frontally towards the lens.
cm 50,5 x 60,8 | 19.9 x 23.9 in.
Photographer's credit stamp on the verso
Literature
A. Crawford (edited by), Mario Giacomelli, Phaidon, London, 2001, p. 225 (similar version)
Mario Giacomelli (Senigallia, Ancona 1925-2000), fatherless at a very young age, worked as an assistant in the print shop that he bought after the war. In 1953 he took his first photograph with a simple Bencini Comet, immediately realising that he could express himself through photography. The support and guidance of Giuseppe Cavalli, Paolo Monti, Luigi Crocenzi and Giuseppe Turroni made him known as a breath of fresh air thanks to a style based on the contrasts of his black and white and a sensibility that led him to an expressionist vision of the landscape and a very intense way of interpreting the lyrics of great poets such as Leopardi, Cardarelli, Turoldo and Lee Masters. He has had many exhibitions all over the world and produced many books.Io non ho mani che mi accarezzino il volto (I have no hands to caress my face) is the best known and most appreciated work because it contains, in the blinding white of the snow on which the black of the seminarians' tunics stands out, the most evident characteristics of Giacomelli's style. However, it is necessary to study this image well because the contrast is more metaphorical than aesthetic, comparing the happiness of the protagonists and the emotional loneliness that awaits them. It should also be remembered that here the true soul of the photographer from Senigallia is revealed: he is a refined interpreter of poetry, in this case of the homonymous lyrics by David Maria Turoldo. Absolutely fascinating Scanno (the only Italian photograph in the 1964 exhibition ‘The Photographers Eye’ at MoMA) is a true exercise in compositional style: the two women in the foreground crossing the space diagonally are contrasted, in a brilliant perspective shift, by the figure of the child advancing frontally towards the lens.
Contact
Condition report
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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.
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