Romano Cagnoni

Romano Cagnoni (b. November 9, 1935 in Pietrasanta, Italy) is an Italian photographer who spent most of his working life based in London.

Biography

Romano Cagnoni leaves the small town of Pietrasanta, Tuscany, famous for its sculpture studios, where he used to photograph sculptures and goes to London in 1958. Based in London for 30 years, he worked as a freelance contributing to different European magazines. He started to work with Simon Guttmann (founder of modern photojournalism with Robert Capa, Felix Mann, Kurt Hutton, Henri Cartier-Bresson, etc.). Later he was invited by Magnum Paris and worked with the agency for about six months, after which he left preferring to work directly with magazines. He documented world events published internationally: Vietnam war (he was the first western non-communist photographer to be allowed in the North of Vietnam with the distinguished British journalist James Cameron (journalist), Cambodia, Nigerian civil war, Israel, South America, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Kosovo, amongst many others. Well known are the forbidden stories that Cagnoni was able to photograph: the Soviet Army in Afghanistan, the Soviet Army in Poland, the Argentina airports during the Falklands war. He was the first photographer to set up a studio on the front line photographing warriors during the fighting in Chechnya in 1995. He won the USA Overseas Press Club Award for his Nigerian civil war documentation, the German bronze medal Art Directors’ Club for documenting with a large format camera the war destruction in former Yugoslavia and many Italian prizes. He returned to live in his home town in Italy from where he travels worldwide for his work. Cagnoni has held 43 solo exhibitions, 43 group shows worldwide and retrospectives. In the last one, at Arengario Palace in Milan, the exhibition was called "ChiaroScuro", which also means "darkness and humour", photographs that show the darkness of war and sometimes the humour of every day life. Opposits that Cagnoni feels are the essence of his work. The Sunday Times former editor Harold Evans, in his book "Pictures on a Page: Photo-Journalism, Graphics and Picture Editing", mentions Cagnoni as being one of the most famous photographers in the world with Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt, Don McCullin and Eugene Smith.

Exhibitions

Personal exhibitions

• 1966, Florence Floods, Swiss Cottage Library, London
• 1969, Biafra, mounted by the Spectator Magazine, St. Martin in the Fields tent, Trafalgar Square, London
• 1972, Fotografie di Romano Cagnoni, Italian Institute of Culture, London
• 1975, Romano Cagnoni: un testimonio dell’epoca, Gallery Il Diaframma, Milan
• 1975, Romano Cagnoni, Gallery Bonomo, Bari
• 1975, Romano Cagnoni - L’avanguardia americana, Museo Correr, Venice
• 1976, Romano Cagnoni, Biblioteca Civica, Castiglione Olona (Varese)
• 1976, Romano Cagnoni, University Museum, Mexico City
• 1976, Romano Cagnoni, Gallery Diaframma Immagine, Brescia
• 1977, Romano Cagnoni, Biblioteca Civica, Mattarello (Trento)
• 1978, Romano Cagnoni - Incontri Internazionali di Fotografia, Museo Civico, Bologna
• 1982, Romano Cagnoni, Biblioteca Civica, Cordenons (Pordenone)
• 1984, Geometria del dolore, Palazzo Braschi, Rome
• 1985, Romano Cagnoni, Palazzo Todeschini, Desenzano del Garda (Brescia)
• 1985, Geometria del dolore, la Versiliana, Versilia (Lucca)
• 1985, Pietrasanta & Figli, Chiostro Sant’Agostino, Pietrasanta (Lucca)
• 1985, Cave, Comune di Carrara, Carrara
• 1986, Cave, Internazionale Marmi Macchine, Carrara
• 1987, Geometria del dolore, Chiesa di S. Filippo, Osimo (Ancona)
• 1988, Caro marmo, Galleria IF, Milan
• 1988, Caro marmo, Versiliana, Versilia (Lucca)
• 1989, Caro marmo, California Museum of Science and Industry, Los Angeles
• 1990, Caro marmo, Palazzo Lanfranchi, Pisa
• 1991, Caro marmo, Foto Italia Expo, Fiera, Gorizia
• 1991, Materia, artigiani, scultori, Chiostro di Sant’Agostino, Pietrasanta (Lucca)
• 1991, Ritratti di scultori, Galleria La Subbia, Lido di Camaiore (Lucca)
• 1993, War in Yugoslavia, Italian Institute of Culture, New York-Washington-Chicago-Los Angeles
• 1994, Romano Cagnoni, ACTA International, Rome
• 1994, Caro marmo, Villa Gori, Stiava (Lucca)
• 1994, Ex Jugoslavia, Meeting, Rimini
• 1995, Caro marmo, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Tokyo
• 1998, Romano Cagnoni - Conflitti, Palazzo Ducale, Atri (Teramo)
• 1998, Caro marmo, Palazzo Micheli Pellegrini, Carrara
• 1999, Romano Cagnoni - Fotografia totale, Università del Melo, Gallarate (Varese)
• 2000, Romano Cagnoni retrospettiva – Il Mondo a Fuoco – Palazzo Te, Mantua
• 2001, Con Brio, Villa Gori, Stiava, Lucca
• 2003/2004, Chiaro Scuro, Palazzo dell’Arengario, Milan
• 2009, Caro Marmo, Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, Alabama
• 2009, Contenuti, WavePhotoGallery, Brescia
• 2009, Romano Cagnoni-Racconti inediti, Quaglietta (Avellino)
• 2009, Altidona Belvedere (Ascoli Piceno)
• 2010, ChiaroScuro, Chelsea Arts Club, London
• 2010, Romano Cagnoni, Nordic Light Festival, Kristiansund, Norway

Group exhibitions

• 1971, Witness, Photographer’s Gallery, London
• 1971, Color supplement photo-journalists, The Royal Photographic Society, London
• 1975, Momenti ed Aspetti della Fotografia Italiana, Sicof, Fiera di Milano, Milan
• 1975, 9 anni della Galleria dell’Immagine “il Diaframma”, Padua
• 1977, Dix ans de il Diaframma, Maison Europ_enne de la Photographie, Chalon sur Saône
• 1977, L’occhio, la macchina, la realtà, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Tokyo
• 1978, Fotografia Italiana, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles
• 1979, The Italian Eye, Alternatice Center for International Arts, New York
• 1979, Fotografia italiana contemporanea, Unesco, Venice
• 1979, La fotografia italiana, Museo de Arte Carrillo, Mexico City
• 1979, Reportage, Chiostro di Voltorre, Gavirate (Varese)
• 1980, Politics & Photography, Project Studios 1, New York
• 1980, A Sud del Sahara, Palazzo Gambalunga, Rimini
• 1980, Fotografie africane, Palazzo Isimbardi, Milan
• 1981, L’informazione negata, Pinacoteca Provinciale, Bari
• 1981, Fotografia, VIII Premio Scanno, Scanno (L’Aquila)
• 1982, Italia degli italiani, China Art Gallery, Beijing
• 1982, Guerra e Pace, Terni and Turin
• 1983, 15 anni della galleria “il Diaframma”, Palazzo Lanfranchi, Pisa
• 1983, Kindness, the Keflex Collection, The Hamilton gallery London
• 1983, 15 anni della galleria “il Diaframma”, Chiostro S. Maria della Lobra, Massa Lubrense (Naples)
• 1983, La photographie italienne contemporaine, Musée Ancien, Grignan
• 1984, Trees, Photographer’s Gallery, London
• 1986, Chi troppo, chi niente, Teatro del Falcone, Palazzo Reale, Genoa
• 1988, 20 anni di Fotografia Italiana, Sala Consiliare, Comune di Savona
• 1988, I fotografi del Venerdì di Repubblica, Galleria “il Diaframma”, Milan
• 1989, Life: Through the Sixties, International Center of Photography, New York
• 1990, Il Mondo dei fotografi, Casa di Giulietta, Verona
• 1990, A Day in the Life of Italy, Nikon House, New York
• 1991, La festa dell’Unità, Festa Nazionale de l’Unità, Bologna
• 1992, 25 anni d’attività della Galleria “il Diaframma”, Gallery “il Diaframma”, Milan
• 1993, Il bacio, Casa di Giulietta, Verona
• 1994, Compagni di viaggio, 6ª Rassegna Internazionale di Fotografia, Cassero Senese, Grosseto
• 1996, Gli anni ’60 – Le immagini al potere, Fondazione A. Mazzotta in Foro Buonaparte, Milan
• 1997, The Coca-Cola Bottle, Design Museum, London
• 1997, Immagini e parole dalla ex-Jugoslavia, Orto Botanico, Lucca
• 1997, Il grande reportage italiano, Villa Bottini, Lucca
• 1998, Pagine di fotografia italiana 1900-1998, Galleria Gottardo, Lugano
• 1999, La mia patria il mondo, Parco Acqua Santa, Chianciano Terme
• 2000, Le Siècle du Corps – Photographies 1900-2000, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
• 2001, Friendship, Grand Central Station, New York
• 2005, Soldiers, Palazzo Arese Borromeo, Cesano Maderno, Milan
• 2009, Ombre di guerra, Rotonda della Besana, Milan

Books and catalogues

• "Romano Cagnoni", (catalogue) ed. Olivetti, Milan 1975
• "Romano Cagnoni", (catalogue) ed. Museo Universitario di Scienza e Arte, Mexico City 1976
• "Cultura e tecnologia nel Sud", ed. Fiat, Turin 1978
• "Romano Cagnoni a Bologna", ed. Ente Manifestazioni Artistiche, Bologna 1979
• "Sud come sudore", ed. Priuli & Verlucca, Ivrea 1980
• "Geometria del dolore", ed. Comune di Roma, Rome 1984
• "Pietrasanta & Figli", ed. Electa, Milan 1985 ISBN 88-435-1212-9
• "Italy-Library of Nations", ed. Time-Life, New York / Amsterdam 1986 ISBN 7054 0850 7
• "Caro Marmo", ed. Iveco Fiat, Turin 1987 ISBN 88-7781-027-0
• "Scultori a Pietrasanta", (catalogue) ed. La Subbia, Pietrasanta 1991
• "Kan Yasuda scultore", with Kozo Watabiki, ed. Leonardo De Luca, Milan 1991
• "Il Mondo a Fuoco", ed. Electa, Milan 2000 ISBN 88-435-7663-1
• "Materia Eterea", sculptures by Kan Yasuda, ed. Comune di Pietrasanta, 2003
• "ChiaroScuro", ed. Electa, Milan 2004 ISBN 88-370-2332-4
• "Giacomo Puccini-Luoghi e suggestioni", Fazzi Ed, 2008 ISBN 978-88-7246-918-7
• "Romano Cagnoni-Racconti Inediti", 2009

Bibliography

• The Penrose Annual, ed. Lund Humphries, London 1970 ISBN 0 85331 253 2
• The Art of Photography, ed. Time-Life, New York 1971
• Speciale fotoreportage: Romano Cagnoni, (monograph), Progresso Fotografico, Milan 1976
• Pictures on a Page, by Harold Evans, ed. Heinemann, London 1978
• 70 anni di fotografia in Italia, ed. Punto e Virgola, Modena 1978
• The camera at war, by Jorge Lewinski, ed. W. H. Allen, London 1979 ISBN 0 491 02485 1
• The Art of Photography, ed. Time-Life, New York 1981 ISBN 0-8094-4170-5
• Dictionnaire des photographes, by Carole Naggar, ed. Seuil, Paris 1982 ISBN 2.02.006288-7
• How famous photographers work, London 1983
• I grandi fotografi: Romano Cagnoni, (monograph) ed. Fabbri, Milan 1983
• Achieving Photographic Style, ed. Macdonald, London 1984 ISBN 0-356-10419-2
• The encyclopedia of practical photography, ed. Macdonald, London 1985 ISBN 0-356-10421-4
• Storia della fotografia italiana, ed. Laterza, Bari 1986
• Fotografi Italiani, (catalogue) ed. Edizioni Bolis, Bergamo 1993 ISBN 88-7827-048-2
• Il tempo dell’immagine, ed. Seat, Turin 1993
• Una guerra tutte le guerre,(calendar) Sant’Anna slaughter anniversary, Comune di Stazzema (Lucca) 1994
• Contemporary Photographers, ed. St. James Press, New York 1995
• A World History of Photography, ed. Abbeville Press, New York 1997
• Iter, ed. Treccani, Roma 1998
• Pagine di fotografia italiana 1900-1998, (catalogue) Fondazione Galleria Gottardo, ed. Charta, Milan 1998 ISBN 88-8158-177-9

Collections

• WMG Limited Mehmet Dalman Collection
• MasterCard Rome
• Comune di Carrara, Carrara
• Comune di Bologna, Bologna
• Keflex Collection, London
• John C. De Prez Jr., Indianapolis, USA
• Paul Arden, London
• Palazzo Te Museum, Mantua
• Contemporary Photography Museum, Parma

Awards

• USA Overseas Press Award, 1970
• German Art Directors’ Club Bronze Medal, 1992
• Premio Atri per la Fotografia per la Pace e la Libertà, 1998
• Werner Bischof Silver Flute, 2009

External links

• website of Romano Cagnoni