The photography exhibition “TANGIBLE TONALITIES. Peretti Griva and Italian pictorialism.From the National Cinema Museum collections”

The National Cinema Museum is presenting the TANGIBLE TONALITIES. Peretti Griva and Italian pictorialism. From the National Cinema Museum collections photography exhibition, by curators Marco Antonetto and Dario Reteuna, while the “D.R. Peretti Griva” section curatorship is by Giovanna Galante Garrone. This exhibition has been organised thanks to a Compagnia di San Paolo contribution.

The rich exhibition circuit, which numbers over 250 original photographs, spools out within the Mole Antonelliana and presents this important photography collection preserved by the National Cinema Museum, one of the most significant testimonials coming from Italian institutions and private collections and works by contemporary authors. Starting from D.R. Peretti Griva’s production, to whom the space beneath the large screens in the Temple Hall is dedicated, the exhibition continues along the Helicoidal Ramp, along which great Italian masters of pictorialism dialogue with a few current authors: indeed, a novel creative interpretation of reality is attaining new life in contemporary pictorial photography, just as elaborate pictorialist printing techniques have come back into fashion during the past few years. And the final part of the exhibition is dedicated to this theme itself and to the evolution in style of photographic art from pictorialism to modernism, presented within the exhibit areas located at the end of the ramp.

The circuit is completed by a selection of cameras, development and printing equipment, plus books and magazines belonging to the National Cinema Museum Collections.

The exhibition will continue at the Mario Gromo Library/Mediatheque with a circuit featuring 30 photographs dedicated to themes Peretti Griva loved, particularly landscapes, portraits and “pet” animals.

This exhibition describes the Italian pictorialism movement, a fortunate expression of photographic art, which saw its moment of greatest splendour between the end of the Nineteenth and the first twenty years of the Twentieth century. The unifying element for pictorialist photographers was established by a precise aesthetic concept, aiming to legitimating photography as an artistic expression on a par with painting or drawing. The aesthetics of pictorialism were also the result of particular shooting and printing techniques: whether simple or elaborate ones, they were destined to produce creative work recalling pictorial canons.

The Italian pictorialists, greatly talented authors, confronted themselves on a par with European and American pictorial masters, with Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva’s emblematic figure standing out among them. Born in Coassolo (near Lanzo, in the Province of Turin) in 1882, D.R. Peretti Griva was a magistrate who reached the top ranks, an author of important juridical texts, an antifascist and was involved after the war in numerous

battles for a lay establishment and for civil rights (including divorce). An educated amateur photographer, he dedicated every moment of his leisure time to photography, his most beloved activity. His “photographic impressions” amaze and fascinate due to their vividness, conveying profound and sometimes unexpected feelings.

The TANGIBLE TONALITIES. Peretti Griva and Italian pictorialism. From the National Cinema Museum collections exhibition highlights the National Cinema Museum’s vocation for photography, which was already a wish of Maria Adriana Prolo’s when she decided to create a National Cinema and Photography Museum (one of the rare cases existing worldwide), reserving a central role for photography within her activity as a scholar and collector. Her collection tastes, which had driven her not only to seek photographs but also devices, books, magazines, gadgets and any material connected with the diffusion of photography within society, grew concurrently with her aim of safeguarding a heritage risking dispersion.

The Museum photography collection was established ever since the very first years of the institution and numbers over 1 million pictures, 132,000 of which belong to historic photography, a diversified corpus which retraces the history of silent and sound cinema and of photographic art. In addition to this there is an important collection of both Italian and international volumes and magazines about historic photography, held and consultable at the “Mario Gromo” Library/Mediatheque. The section dedicated to photography is rounded off by a rich collection of cameras, magnifiers, viewers and photography accessories (tables with exposure timing, blank paper and photographic slides, basins and pincers, cable releases, frames and so on) documenting the birth of photography and its growth.

Recognised for years now as an internationally relevant centre, the National Cinema Museum is continuing its work in divulging photography through digitalisation and the publication of its most important funds, the organisation of exhibitions, and activities addressing young people, who are rediscovering the creative potential of erstwhile analogical techniques.

For the occasion of this exhibition, a programme of activities for schools and for the public will be initiated, with the aim of rediscovering historic photography and enhancing the photographic heritage at the Museum.

Facilitated Access Information will also be available to the public in order to favour exhibition tours, in a dedicated totem at the beginning of the showcase itinerary, along the ramp and downloadable from the Museum site: LIS (Italian Language Sign) audio and video to be activated through a QR code and NFC; visual and tactile reproductions of a series of exhibits; Braille plaques along the handrail; a Multi-sensorial Circuit on Italian Pictorialism album to look at, listen to, and touch.

The section of the exhibition at the Library/Mediatheque is inaugurating a new showcasing venue at the disposal of young photographers. From now on, in fact, youngsters selected by means of an open call will be its protagonists, with the possibility of exhibiting their work and making their photography projects known.

The exhibition is rounded off by its rich Italian pictorialism and Peretti Griva’s photograpy opus catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale, by curators Marco Antonetto, Dario Reteuna and by Giovanna Galante Garrone for the section dedicated to D.R. Peretti Griva, which includes texts by Italo Zannier, Donata Pesenti Campagnoni, Chiara Maraghini Garrone, Giovanna Galante Garrone, Dario Reteuna, Marco Antonetto, Monica Maffioli, Lucia Miodini, historical-critical biographies of the authors presented at the exhibition, a listing of the works on display and a plentiful amount of pictures.