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BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA

Biennale di Senigallia: A Tribute to Alfonso Napolitano and Patricia Lo Conte. This new article is dedicated to my friends who have created a welcoming space right next to Atelier 41, at 64 Via Fratelli Bandiera. Patricia is showing her photographs behind the curtain to Erasmus students.

It was here that the very first arrivals at the IV Biennale were greeted.

The first participants—artists, teachers, and visitors—were welcomed on the evening of Wednesday, June 18th, with a small buffet and a guided tour of Alfonso Napolitano’s exhibition of paintings and photographs, a heartfelt tribute to Mario Giacomelli on the centenary of his birth.

Alfonso Napolitano: An Artist at the Heart of Senigallia

Alfonso has played a particularly important role in the artistic development of Senigallia. He has been not only an artist and graphic designer, but also a volunteer collections manager, closely involved with the activities of Carlo Emanuele Bugatti, the founder of the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Photography.

Below are some highlights from an interview Alfonso gave last night at the Foro Annonario, where he was overseeing a photography exhibition.

Alfonso’s first meeting with Professor Bugatti dates back to 1970, in Ancona, when Alfonso had just found a job as a graphic designer at a local bank. Carlo Emanuele Bugatti, four or five years Alfonso’s senior, was already publishing a directory of contemporary Italian artists—a volume where the most famous artists were listed first, and whose critical essays were widely recognized for their literary quality. Bugatti quickly built an impressive network.

At the same time, lesser-known artists were grateful simply to be included in the directory, while their gallerists were encouraged to make a small contribution to the independent publishing house. In 1970s Italy, everyone found ways to help each other and trade favors, and Alfonso was happy to contribute his skills and further develop as a graphic artist and illustrator.

In 1981, Carlo Emanuele Bugatti founded the Senigallia Museum in a few quirky rooms along the old city walls on Via Cloistergi, where the city hall housed it alongside local artisans’ associations. Local artists, following in the footsteps of Mario Giacomelli, began entrusting their works to the museum after returning from exhibitions across Italy. In fact, it was the return of Giacomelli’s prints from the extraordinary 1980 exhibition in Parma that truly set the movement in motion.

When, in 2001, Bugatti secured the use of a small independent palazzo on Via Pisacane, he turned to his devoted friend Alfonso for help with what would have seemed to others an impossible task: how to create and manage a museum on a shoestring budget, with only one paid staff member responsible for keys and logistics.

The secret behind Professor Bugatti’s ability to keep the museum running for nearly two decades at the start of this century was the incredible dedication of a small group of volunteers—among whom Alfonso deserves special recognition.

Now, Alfonso comes nearly every day and supports all sorts of initiatives—especially the Biennale—in the most discreet way.

Patrizia does the same, always present with her camera.

Alfonso had started young—at age twelve, he picked up a pencil and some colors and drew a cat’s head. His mother took it to a framer in Ancona, who put it in the shop window, and it sold for an extraordinary sum—more than half of his father’s monthly salary.

Gino Papa, an original artist who taught in a local school, guided him for five years, teaching him the basics of the craft.

This year, Alfonso has prepared an exhibition of his own paintings and photographs, a tribute to Mario Giacomelli—an artist he deeply respected, though he never tried to force his way into Giacomelli’s inner circle.
Everything Alfonso does is marked by deep respect and careful observation; he is always available when needed, yet never seeks the spotlight for himself.

If you wish to make a visit, here is the contact: napalfonso https://www.facebook.com/PatriLoconte/

In a way, by shining a light on him today, we are almost betraying his natural discretion.

Let’s conclude with a special card dedicated to Antonio Canal, created on the suggestion of Alfonso !

MYT- 10 – Canaletto – Venice, ca 1720. Canaletto (Antonio Canal, 1697-1768) is among the first professional painters to systematically use the camera obscura to create images of extraordinary accuracy. His views of Venice are considered by many to be true “photographs before photography.”

With the camera obscura he made highly accurate sketches of buildings and landscapes, collected in notebooks such as the one preserved in the Gallerie dell’Accademia. The tool enabled him to faithfully reproduce perspectives and architectural details with a rigor that few others could achieve.

I Misteri della Fotografia – MYT- 10 – Canaletto – Venezia, ca 1720. Canaletto (Antonio Canal, 1697–1768) è tra i primi pittori professionisti a usare sistematicamente la camera obscura per creare immagini di straordinaria precisione. Le sue vedute di Venezia sono considerate da molti vere “fotografie prima della fotografia”.

Con la camera obscura realizzava schizzi accuratissimi di edifici e paesaggi, raccolti in taccuini come quello conservato alle Gallerie dell’Accademia. Lo strumento gli permetteva di riprodurre fedelmente prospettive e dettagli architettonici con un rigore che pochi altri potevano ottenere.

Eliocromia pubblicata come cartolina, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fa parte della prima serie I Misteri della Fotografia, dedicata ai miti ed ai precursori

Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia

La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni …

Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia.

Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera.

Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni.

Any question : fotografia

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