Giuseppe Cavalli

As Martin Harrison wrote in the introduction to the catalogue of the exhibition “Giuseppe Cavalli Photographs”
held in London in June 2002, 1 Cavalli still has to be studied. Following this pronouncement from such an
authority, and – I like to flatter myself – due also to the thrust provided by the Giuseppe Cavalli Archive, I have noticed
that recent criticism has gone beyond certain interpretations that, frankly, were somewhat dated.
I would like to quote Giuliana Scimè: “[Giuseppe Cavalli’s] images represent one of the most ground-breaking
moments in Italian photography, and perhaps we are now in a position to understand his exceptional oeuvre.
Accused in the past of ‘pure formalism’ by obdurate critics who favoured social issues, Cavalli is remarkably modern.”
2 Scimè also writes: “Cavalli is truly the revolutionary creator of photography as an autonomous art in postwar
Italy.” When discussing Cavalli’s still lifes, and particularly one of his most well-known ones, “Little ball”,
Angela Madesani writes: “this ‘little ball’ placed on a low wall contains the history of Italian art: Renaissance
geometries, plastic values, Morandi and the abstract atmospheres of Informel that was becoming established then.”
Diego Mormorio speaks of “Cavalli and the pleasure of beauty ... one has the feeling – indeed, one is certain
– that the Catholic Cavalli was perhaps closer to the pagan soul of the Ancient Greeks. He experienced the joy
of seeing, and through seeing the joy of beauty and of art. Cavalli conveys this most clearly by quoting the De
Goncourt brothers: ‘Apprendre à voir est le plus longue apprentissage de tous les arts’.” In his review of the exhibition
organized by Museo di Roma - Palazzo Braschi, Luigi Silvi comments: “Through his brother Emanuele’s experiences
Cavalli developed close contacts not only with Guidi, but also with other contemporaries... he developed
the metaphysical experiments of Carrà, Rosai and also De Chirico, or possibly Savinio’s interpretation of Man Ray’s
Surrealism. There was nothing of the formalist about Cavalli, who singled out from reality objects and images
t h at he analyzed and used as the pre t ext for rep resenting lines, wh i t e s, bl a c k s, grey s, vo l u m e s, masses, spaces,
light/nonlight, shadows, pale and dark tones, also establishing a dialogue with Mondrian’s Neoplastic works… his
abstraction is almost a return to the Renaissance... swirling, wrinkled, rough surfaces, a prelude to matteric painting
and still lifes, some partly reminiscent of Morandi and Carena and Metaphysical Art, others such as the rows of
pots and of gloves, whose repetition sends signals across the Atlantic to the Pop artists... Cavalli’s intellectual experience
is an adventure book, an explorer’s journal: a nomad ventures into new, unknown territories, seeking, investigating,
experimenting, contaminating, opening up new paths and unexpected vistas.”
I’d like to conclude these – perhaps lengthy – quotes with a poem written by Mario Giacomelli for the retrospective
organized by the Senigallia Municipal Council in 1994:
Daniele
Cavalli
“Living in the future
more than in the past.
His style gave me
the measure of his
qualities, it was the itinerary
of my soul, the means
the nature, the power of inspiration.
Now my feelings cannot find
words worthy of Maestro Giuseppe
Cavalli, my respect
for him is boundless” 7 .
1 Martin Harrison, critical essay in the catalogue “Giuseppe Cavalli Photographs”, London, Faggionato Fine Arts – 49 albemarle street, 18/06-18/08/2002
2 Giuliana Scimè in “Il Corrriere della Sera” 26/05/2004, review on the solo exhibition, Galleria San Fedele, Milano, 13/05-19/06/2004
3 Giuliana Scimè in “Il Corriere della Sera” 9/12/2005, review for the exibition organized by “Fotografia Italiana”, Milano, 25/11/2005-21/01/2006
4 Angela Madesani in “Diario” weekly magazine, n°5, 2006, pag.29, review on the solo exhibition, Museo di Roma – Palazzo Braschi, 8/04-31/05/2006
5 Diego Mormorio, critical essay in “Giuseppe Cavalli fotografie 1936-1961”, critical essay in, catalogue of the solo exhibition, Museo di Roma – Palazzo Braschi,
8/04-31/05/2006, pag.10
6 Luigi Silvi in “Vespertilla”, Roman paper of cultural in deep exhibition, Febrary - March 2007, pag. 20
7 In “Giuseppe Cavalli Tre Stagioni”, curated by Enzo Carli, catalogue of the retrospective organized by Senigallia Municipal Council – auditorium di San Rocco,
23/07-16/08/1994
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