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Photographs: ITALIAN ICONS

Monday 18 May 2026, 04:00 PM • Milan

1038

Franco Fontana

(1933)

People, 1982

Artist's Resale Right

Estimate

€ 1.200 - 1.600

Sold

€ 1.143

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Vintage chromogenic print
cm 28,2 x 39,8 (cm 22 x 33,5 picture) | 11.1 x 15.7 in. (8.6 x 13.2 in. picture)
Signed and dated in black ink on the white inferior recto margin
Already in his early days as a simple amateur, Franco Fontana (Modena 1933) stood out for his choice of colour, thanks to which he obtained his first recognition at the beginning of the 1960s, which encouraged him to turn to professional photography. Since then, he has been internationally recognised for his highly personal interpretation of landscapes, organising exhibitions in galleries and museums all over the world, publishing more than seventy books, collaborating with important newspapers and receiving prizes and awards.

While many photographers continued to prefer black and white for its ductility and undoubted charm, Franco Fontana sensed that these same characteristics could also be attributed to color. It is in this chromatic universe that he brought out his vision of the world focused above all on a reflection on the landscape with implicit but intuitive references to abstractionism. Every single image like this (characterized by the contrasts between the soft blue of the sky and the four intense shades assumed by the earth reiterated by the precious Dye Transfer print that perfectly reproduces the original colors) contains the characteristics of his research in this field. When he decides to lay his gaze on the United States, this characteristic is accentuated and the shot becomes markedly frontal as if to underline that country's exaggerated taste for emphasis. Everything changes in front of Correggio's urban spaces: the colors become delicate, the framing accentuates the sense of depth and the atmosphere becomes poetic.

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