The new Electaphoto series kicks off with a comprehensive monograph about one of the greatest living Italian photographers, Mario Dondero: a legend of global photo-journalism in his own right, about whom, until now, only books focusing on certain projects have so far been published.
The quality and the scope of contributions offered by some of the world’s most authoritative journalists and cultural experts and the large, carefully chosen selection of photographs from Dondero’s 60 year-long career, many of which are published here for the first time, mean that this is the first exhaustive catalog of the subject’s extraordinary work. What has always distinguished Mario Dondero’s work is the ‘insider view’ of stories about people. His interest in the fates of human beings gives his work an aura of empathy, affection and joy. In fact, the frankness of his shots and his huge humanity eventually prevailed in the judgments of critics in a necessary enquiry into the quality of his frank, ‘no frills’ photography. However, his art lacks neither style nor esthetic quality. A long series of introductory essays portrays the role of Dondero within the sphere of Italian and European photojournalism. Then, tell stories told in words and images in four sections of the book, oriented chronologically and geographically, help us to reconstruct the political, social and cultural events of the ‘long’ century from his point of view, and admire his ability to recognize potential portraits, equally, in celebrities and ordinary people, in the epic of everyday life. His most famous black and white photos, together with a fair number of hitherto unpublished color shots, and the testimonials of people who have known and loved him, complete this book about life.