Luigi Ghirri (5 January 1943 – 14 February 1992) was an Italian artist and photographer[1][2] whose work was about the relationship between fiction and reality.[3] Ghirri has been the subject of numerous books. His works are held by various museums around the world and have been exhibited in the 2011 Venice Biennale[4] and at MAXXI in Rome.[5]
He started his career in the 1970s. Influenced by conceptual art, he created his first two series, Atlante (1973) and Kodachrome (1978),[3][6] where his cropped images of the landscape were presented with a deadpan, often ironic wit and a continuous anthropological engagement with his surroundings.[citation needed] The compositions and hues of his photographs suggested subtle emotional tones and a meticulously rich way of viewing the world, as well as the role of images within it.[citation needed]
Ghirri's work quickly attracted international attention. In 1975 Time-Life included him in its list of the "Discoveries" of its annual Photography Year publication, and he showed at the Photography as Art, Art as Photography exhibition in Kassel. In 1982 he was invited to the photokina in Cologne, where he was acclaimed as one of the twenty most significant photographers of the 20th century for his series Topographie-Iconographie.[citation needed] In 1989 he made a series shot in the studio of painter Giorgio Morandi.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 49[7] in Roncocesi, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italy on 14 February 1992.
Publications
Kodachrome. Self-published / Punto e Virgola, 1978.
London: Mack, 2012. ISBN9781907946240. With an essay by Francesco Zanot in Italian, English, French and German; and translations of the original texts in French and German.
Italian Landscape/Paesaggio Italiano (no.11 in the book series Lotus Documents directed by Pierluigi Nicolin), Hamburg: Gingko Press, 1989; Comprises 83 colour plates and 14 essays and interviews by Ghirri and various contributors. 128pp. ISBN9788890022944
Luigi Ghirri ‘Thinking Images’ Icons, Landscapes, Architectures,MAXXI, Rome, 2013; Brazil; Reggio Emilia, Italy, 2014. A retrospective, curated by Francesca Fabiani, Laura Gasparini, and Giuliano Sergio.[5]