Paolo Di Paolo. Incontri impossibili Artisti e intellettuali italiani 1954-1968

The monograph is part of the Electaphoto series, and is a tribute to Paolo Di Paolo (1925-2023), an outstanding figure of the golden age of Italian photojournalism after World War II. It marks the centenary of his birth.

The focus of the volume is a core collection of portraits, most of them previously unpublished, of artists, writers and cultural figures, including Giorgio de Chirico, Carla Accardi, Lucio Fontana, Pietro Consagra, Renato Guttuso, Mimmo Rotella, Mario Mafai, Bruno Munari, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alberto Moravia, Elsa Morante, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Salvatore Quasimodo, Vasco Pratolini, and many others: a selection that provides an exceptional panorama of an unrepeatable period of Italian culture.
Among the authors of the texts are Emanuele Trevi, Michele Masneri, Francesca Bernardini Napoletano, Ilaria Schiaffini and Edoardo Sassi, while the portraits of artists and intellectuals are accompanied by biographical profiles by Massimo Belli and Tommaso Spazzini Villa. Also of great interest are the further insights, ranging from the Osteria Fratelli Menghi, a famous stamping ground for painters and intellectuals frequented by Di Paolo, to the House of Giacomo Balla, from the Gruppo Forma 1 to the Premio Strega, from the Venice Biennale to the photographer’s partnerships with Palma Bucarelli and Irene Brin.
The chapter “Impossible Encounters” focuses on the images of unusual combinations, conceived by Sennuccio Benelli, of personalities from the worlds of art, politics, culture and entertainment; the photographs are presented with anastatic reproductions of the monthly Successo, which published them from 1961 to 1963.

The volume closes with a selection of excerpts from Martina Paolino’s interview with Paolo Di Paolo.
The book is edited by Silvia Di Paolo, with the scholarly direction of Ilaria Schiaffini (of Sapienza Università di Roma) and Massimo Belli.

The graphic design is by Irene Bacchi and Leonardo Sonnoli (Studio Sonnoli).