Exploring the Lens: A Retrospective of Italo Zannier, Pioneer of Italian Photography

The Harry Bertoia Gallery in Pordenone is hosting an exhibition dedicated to Italo Zannier, an intellectual, educator, exhibition organizer, collector, and photographer. He was the first individual to hold a chair in the History of Photography in Italy.

At the Harry Bertoia Gallery in Pordenone, the exhibition Italo Zannier – Io sono io. Photographer in history and historian of photography will continue until May 4, 2025, curated by Marco Minuz and Giulio Zannier.

Italo Zannier (born in Spilimbergo in 1932) is a significant figure in the Italian cultural landscape: an intellectual, lecturer, exhibition organizer, collector, and photographer. He was the first to receive a chair in the History of Photography in Italy, playing a pivotal role in the acknowledgment of this discipline in our nation. This exhibition seeks to examine the expansive variety and depth of Zannier’s dedication and zeal for photography, presenting the numerous endeavors he engaged in throughout his extensive career.

The exhibition showcases his principal experiences, commencing with his involvement in the neorealist movement. A passionate cinema enthusiast, he initially dabbled in short films using Super 8, and later dedicated himself entirely to photography.

In 1955, Zannier authored the manifesto for the Gruppo friulano per una nuova fotografia (Friulian Group for a New Photography), comprising renowned photographers like Carlo Bevilacqua, Toni Del Tin, Fulvio Roiter, Gianni Berengo Gardin, and Nino Migliori, along with his compatriots Gianni and Giuliano Borghesan and Aldo Beltrame. This group is among the earliest in Italy to advocate for innovative photography, transcending the aesthetics of images in favor of experimental and analytical exploration.

Zannier’s photography is characterized by its “critical narrative,” illustrated through the characters, settings, and objects captured, also showcasing a deep awareness of social contexts and locations. This methodology is particularly evident within the realm ofarchitecture, where Zannier documents the Friulian landscape, caught between tradition and transformation. His artworks record the essence of a community, chronicling its evolution over time.

Notable is his series of diachronies, completed in 1976, in which Zannier revisits the same locations and employs identical parameters from two decades prior, emphasizing the passage of time. These pieces gain extra significance due to the earthquake that subsequently devastated many photographed locations.

His engagement with architecture also encompasses collaborations with prominent journals like Il Mondo, Comunità, Casabella, and Domus. Since 1971, Zannier has been the first person in Italy to impart knowledge on History of Photography within an academic framework, acquiring positions at IUAV and Ca’ Foscari in Venice, Dams in Bologna, the Catholic University of Milan, and other Italian institutions. Besides his teaching roles, Zannier has authored numerous volumes, essays, and articles, partnering with specialized publications such as L’Architettura “chronicles and history,” Camera, Photo Magazine, and Fotografia Italiana – Il Diaframma. He has also served as editor for significant publishing series, including Fotologia “Studies in the history of photography” and Fotostorica “the archives of photography.”

After over three decades, Zannier resumes his photographic journey with renewed vigor, centering on issues related to globalization and the homogenization of modernity, as seen in the Veneland project.

The exhibition further examines his prolific nonfiction works, featuring over six hundred pieces, and his role in curating shows, including the photographic segment of The Italian Metamorphosis exhibit at the Guggenheim in New York (1994) and The I and its Double at the Venice Biennale. His remarkable publishing venture Coste e Monti d’Italia, backed by ENI, is also acknowledged, resulting in nine volumes published between 1967 and 1976.

An exhibition in Pordenone on Italo Zannier, photographer who was awarded the first chair of the History of Photography in Italy

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