Villa Medici, Chromotherapia

The show, curated by Maurizio Cattelan one of the foremost Italian artists on the contemporary art scene and Sam Stourdzé, specializes in contemporary images and the relationship between art, photography, and film, invites us to explore the history of color photography over the whole course of the twentieth century, through the zestful gaze of 19 artists. The tour, in seven chapters, leads us into vibrant, saturated worlds where colour strikes the retina and engages the mind.

Among the artworks, the famous color photographs by Sandy Skoglund, on loan from our gallery. 

Often disparaged and rarely taken seriously, color photography has nevertheless allowed photographers to let their hair down, take out their palettes, and repaint the world. Many have freed themselves from the documentary function of the photographic medium to explore the common roots of the image and the imaginary, flirting with pop art, surrealism, bling, kitsch, and the baroque.

The conquest of color in photography closely followed the invention of the medium, with the first scientific experiments taking place in the mid-19th century. In 1907, the first industrial color photographic emerged with the autochrome, created by the Lumière brothers. This ushered in a century of chromatic experimentation: from ordinary scenes to philosophical and political reflections, color transcended the status of a mere tool and became a central narrative element.

Whether magnifying the details of an everyday scene, redefining codes of beauty in magazines, or capturing committed subjects, color photography offers an intensely chromatic vision of the world. This diversity of gazes and practices bears witness to a common thread: the desire to make us see things differently, by infusing images with the life and emotion that only color can convey.

 

THE EXHIBITION IN 7 CHAPTERS

EARLY BIRDS

Erwin Blumenfeld, Harold Edgerton, Madame Yevonde and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)

RAINING CATS AND DOGS

Walter Chandoha, William Wegman and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)

GLOSSY

Guy Bourdin, Hiro and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)

FEMME FATALE

Adrienne Raquel, Miles Aldridge, Juno Calypso, Alex Prager and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)

STRANGER THINGS

Arnold Odermatt, Sandy Skoglund

FOODORAMA

Martin Parr and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)

MAKE A FACE

Hassan Hajjaj, Ouka Leele, Pierre et Gilles, Ruth Ginika Ossai and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)