A Salute to the Masters: Matera in Black and White (A Tribute to Pepi Merisio)

Some months ago the wonderful city of Matera, chosen as the European Capital of Culture 2019, hosted an exhibit featuring the works of an important Italian social photographer: Pepi Merisio, who had also donated all photos shown to the local public library. To pay homage to this great artist, I have selected a series of photos that I took in this place last summer. Take a look!

This article is dedicated to Pepi Merisio and to a recent exhibit of his work, showcasing life in the most important Italian squares, held in Matera. This very old town located in southern Italy is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its wonderful old houses dug into the calcarenitic rock known as Sassi. This is a photo of Matera taken by Merisio in 1964. Many timeless movies were filmed in this wonderful city including “Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo” by Pier Paolo Pasolini, “King David” by Bruce Beresford, “The Passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson, “Mary” by Abel Ferrara, and the upcoming 2016 re-telling of “Ben-Hur” by Timur Bekmambetov.

Credits: sirio174

Born in 1931 in northern Italy, Merisio is considered one of the most important Italian social photographers along with Gianni Berengo Gardin and Ferdinando Scianna. Self-taught, he began to photograph in 1947. He obtained important awards as an amateur in the early ’50s, collaborating with important magazines like Touring Club, Stern, Paris-Match, and Epoca, which was the most important Italian illustrated magazine until its closure in 1997.

In 1962, Merisio decided to become a professional photographer and joined the staff of Epoca. In 1964 his reportage, A Day with the Pope, was published, beginning a longtime cooperation with Pope Paul VI.

Credits: sirio174

Merisio focuses on the rural Italian life and its Catholic tradition. He added a more anthropological slant to the classic street photography style, which is always present in his works. For example, he made a very interesting photo-anthropological reportage about the famous Palio Horse Race in Siena in the book, Il Palio. He also took many great photos, seen here, which show the transformation of Italy after World War II from an agricultural country to an industrial one.

Merisio also realized a very interesting work that focused on games for children and adults in the streets. Here, he immortalized an Italy that almost no longer exists. Football matches, road races, and other simple games were masterfully portrayed by this artist, showing us the creativity of children and many people happily playing outdoors.

Credits: sirio174

Information in this article was sourced from Sassiland, Wikipedia, Swide, and Il Palio (1, 2).

A Salute to the Masters is a series dedicated to great photographers that I like. I posted other tributes for Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Helen Levitt, Ernst Haas, Stephen Shore, Gabriele Basilico, Robert Adams, Thomas Struth, J.H. Lartigue, Elliott Erwitt, Robert Frank, Gianni Berengo Gardin, André Kertész, Willy Ronis, Brassaï, Rodchenko, Dan Graham, Henry Grant, William Eggleston, Dennis Stock, Juergen Teller, Martin Parr, Peter Mitchell, Mario Giacomelli, David Burnett, Michael Williamson, Bernard Cahier, Harry Gruyaert, Bruno Barbey, Paul Strand, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Lothar Rübelt, David Goldblatt, Henry Cartier-Bresson, Raymond Depardon, Aaron Siskind, Mario de Biasi, Sabine Weiss, Jack Delano, Bill Eppridge, Édouard Boubat, Serge Moulinier, George Krause, Robert Doisneau, Ferdinando Scianna, Robert Capa, Alexey Brodovitch, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Christopher Williams and Izis Bidermanas. I especially love street photography and urban architectural photography.

written by sirio174 on 2015-10-07 #lifestyle #black-and-white #matera #regular-contributor #a-salute-to-the-masters #pepi-merisio

More Interesting Articles