Fulvio Roiter, Venezia, Squero di San Trovaso, 1970 © Fondazione Fulvio Roiter |
But long before the phenomenon of instant pictures shot by foreigners, Fulvio Roiter, one of Venice's own photographers, introduced the world to her beauty through his soulful lens.
La Casa dei Tre Oci on the island of Giudecca presents the first retrospective show of Fulvio Roiter, who died in Venice on April 18, 2016. Presented by the Fondazione di Venezia in partnership with the City of Venice, Fulvio Roiter Photographs 1948-2007 is a tribute to the photographer who, more than any other, has linked the image of Venice to his name. Curated by artistic director Denis Curti, the exhibit is also an act of love by the photographer, Lou Embo, who was Roiter's wife.
"And so 1953 arrived. My father was becoming increasingly less tolerant and he gave me an ultimatum: either I went back to chemistry or else my enthusiasm for photography had to be turned into a money-earner. I was at a crossroads. I asked for one last chance. This: give me the minimum means and let me go to Sicily."
"I have always considered black and white as the only yardstick for judging a photo. Colour can be arrived at by chance or by calculation; black and white, no."
Fulvio Roiter
From the exhibition:
VENICE IN BLACK AND WHITE:
A SELF-PORTRAIT
"The heart and soul of Fulvio Roiter's work was Venice, the city that first invited his eyes to look through a viewfinder in order to bring to light what nobody had seen before. A magical city overflowing with history, the set for a film that had never been released but that soon everyone would want to see by walking along the alleys by the lagoon.
His photos had the power of a megaphone and managed to connect the city to the world. Venice was the research field where Roiter discovered his artistic identity precisely at the time when the city was being reborn through unusual and attractive images, through photographs that allowed the whole world to get to know its poetry and enchantment."
There is also a beautiful 272-page hardcover book about the exhibition published by Marsilio in both Italian and English, with essays by Denis Curti and Italo Zannier, which states that it is "The most complete monograph ever published and the first after the death of the great Venetian photographer." The photographs are organized into thematic sections: “Venice in Black and White,” “The Tree,” “Venice in Color,” “Italy in Black and White,” “Around the World” and “A Man Without Desires.” The book is available now if you visit the exhibition at Tre Oci, or you can pre-order it at Libro Co. Italia, at Rizzoli, or on Amazon, when it will be available on September 4, 2018.
Fulvio Roiter. Fotografie 1948 - 2007 runs from March 16, 2018 through August 26, 2018. Go to La Casa dei Tre Oci for more information.
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
But long before the phenomenon of instant pictures shot by foreigners, Fulvio Roiter, one of Venice's own photographers, introduced the world to her beauty through his soulful lens.
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