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BIENNALE DI SENIGALLIA

In the history of photography, among the classic categories—portrait, landscape, snapshot, reproduction—there is one that stands out when you focus on creators and inventors: still life. Still life seems to hold a special appeal for those who do not simply copy, but invent.

Thomas Salis, a gallerist in Salzburg and an expert in twentieth-century modern art, now lives with his wife Raffaella in Castelbellino, in the Marche region of Italy. For the Biennale, they propose the following pairing:

Nature morte – Still Lifes: Mario Giacomelli & Giorgio Morandi
A pairing curated by Thomas Salis.

“Giorgio Morandi is renowned for his still lifes featuring simple objects — bottles, bowls, vases — rendered with a refined focus on line, hatching, and chiaroscuro. Through painting and etching, he developed a deeply meditative and precise visual language. His still lifes, especially those created after World War II, display subtle variations in tone and composition, emphasizing the texture and materiality of the objects he portrayed”

In the 1950s, Mario Giacomelli produced a series of still life photographs using everyday objects. His black-and-white — and occasionally color — compositions reveal a poetic and iconic approach to form. Light and shadow play a central role in his work, as he explored photographic matter with a tactile, expressive intensity. Though rooted in different mediums, the works of Morandi and Giacomelli share a quiet affinity. Giacomelli’s still lifes often recall Morandi’s paintings and engravings: not only through the humble subjects they depict, but through a shared atmosphere of introspection.

Yet where Morandi’s silence is that of the painter’s studio, Giacomelli translates it into a photographic sensibility — fragile, luminous, and anchored in the real. Morandi’s influence on Giacomelli is evident, but each artist developed a distinct expressive path: Morandi in the realm of painting and printmaking; Giacomelli through a poetic, material approach to photography. ”

The photographs by Giacomelli presented here — dating from the 1950s and 60s — are drawn from the private collection of Thomas and Raffaela Salis, who have been collecting Giacomelli’s work for over twenty years.”

If you wish to follow on some research topics with the Salis, you can contact them by mail at: mail

This presentation offered a fitting conclusion to the exhibition on the mysteries of photography.

By recreating a “served table” in the spirit of Niépce’s first photographic still life, we paid tribute not only to the origins of the genre, but also to two major anniversaries: the centenary of Giacomelli’s birth and the bicentenary of Niépce’s early experiments.

It was Jean-Louis Marignier who, by reconstructing the process, allowed us to understand the true nature of La Table servie. The dating—1833—is based on the testimony of the Scottish physicist James David Forbes, who visited Isidore Niépce (the son) in 1839 and described still lifes created by his father, including La Table servie. Forbes does not mention the technique, but the still life, the support (glass plate), and the rendering, all correspond to the physautotype—a process that Niépce could only have used at the very end of his life. Marignier also notes the absence of any mention in Niépce’s correspondence from the year 1832. It simply couldn’t have been made any earlier.

Even though there is no evidence that Morandi or Giacomelli ever referenced Niépce’s work, we wanted these two bodies of work to bring the exhibition full circle. Visitors are invited to photograph the reconstruction of the famous “Table servie,” the image Niépce succeeded in capturing in 1833—an important step in his research, which, with Daguerre’s help, led to the invention of the physautotype.

The reconstruction of La Table servie is inspired by the installation on view at the Niépce House, along with a physautotype made by Jean-Louis Marignier.

The original glass is lost, but there are reproductions of a 1886 copy-photograph and historical accounts that confirm its attribution. The physautotype itself is a fragile chemical process: a thin layer of lavender resin residue is deposited on a glass or silver plate, then exposed and developed.

The image appears as whitish areas where the light has struck, while the unexposed parts become transparent, like in an ambrotype. To see the photograph properly, you have to place the plate in front of a black background—the dark surface brings out the positive image. This need for a black backing is typical of several early photographic processes, including the daguerreotype.

Let’s conclude with a special card dedicated to Nicephore, created for the Misteri della Fotografia series !

JNN-12. La Table servie – Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, 1833

The Niépce-Daguerre partnership is progressing rather well. Daguerre, for his part, is committed: he makes four trips to Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, and each visit seems to have been constructive.

Together, they develop an advanced process they call “Physautotype,” a few months before Niepce’s sudden death.

A glass physautotype specimen, La Table servie, was exhibited in Paris in 1900, but disappeared shortly thereafter.

Heliochromy published as a postcard, mixed media on a digital base: collage, engraving, gouache retouching, and manual interventions.

JNN-12. La Table servie – Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, 1833

L’associazione procede piuttosto bene. Daguerre, da parte sua, si impegna: compie ben quattro viaggi a Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, e ogni visita sembra essere stata costruttiva. Insieme mettono a punto un procedimento avanzato che chiamano “physautotype”, pochi mesi prima della morte improvvisa di Niepce.

Un esemplare di physautotype su vetro, La Table servie, fu esposto a Parigi nel 1900, pero scomparve poco dopo.

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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