Gianfranco Gorgoni
Selected Press
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Index Page 4
L'Oeil de la Photographie
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Blouin Art info
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An Other
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Konbini
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Hunger TV
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Jocks & Nerds
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la Repubblica.it
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Selectism
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Rex
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ContiniArtUK presents an exhibition of works by Italian photographer Gianfranco Gorgoni, Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art which includes photos of artists from the 20th Century alongside a portrait series of Abstract Canadian-American painter Agnes Martin (19122004), who is soon to be exhibited at Tate Modern in celebration of her five-decades spanning career. During the late 1960s, Gorgoni was commissioned by the Italian weekly L’Espresso to create a photo story on the vibrant New York City art scene. Through his close contact with legendary art dealer Leo Castelli, Gorgoni was introduced to all the key artists of the day including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Gorgoni created a series of candid and telling portraits of artists who would become leading figures in the art world for decades to come. He captured his sitters in a variety of manners, both in posed and spontaneous settings. The intensity with which the artist showed his sitters resonated through the art world and captured the attention of world-leading publications, resulting in a highly successful career as an international photojournalist. From the mid-1970s onwards, Gorgoni’s photographs graced the covers of publications such as Time, Life, Newsweek and The New York Times, and continues to do so up to this day. His portraits of artistic icons such as Warhol and Willem De Kooning, Gorgoni capture the humanity behind artists who inspired generations of artists to come, with extraordinary honesty. His portrayal of the new social aspects of the contemporary American frontier, led chiefly by a young group of artists, directed him towards the creation of a particularly personal style of photography, which he continues to implement in both his portraits and photo-journalist works. Gorgoni’s photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world, from Stockholm to San Francisco and from Tokyo to Venice. The exhibition with ContiniArtUK, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, will focus chiefly on the icons of contemporary art he has taken over the past four decades. The exhibition will offer a unique opportunity to look through the lens of a photographer who captured numerous pivotal and deeply personal moments in the lives of the most celebrated artists of our time. EXHIBITION Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art by Gianfranco Gorgoni 2-7 June 2015 ContiniArtUK 105 New Bond Street London W1S 1DN UK http://www.continiartuk.com http://www.gianfrancogorgoni.it/en/
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Andy Warhol and Giorgio de Chirico at an Italian diplomat’s house (1972) (Courtesy of CortiniArtUK © Gianfranco Gorgoni)
His list of subjects reads like a dealer’s notebook of the time: Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. And today, Gianfranco Gorgoni’s photography continues to grace covers and the pages of Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times. ContiniArtUK in London will open June 2 a photographic exhibition of Gorgoni 's works titled “Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art,” including a series of portraits of Agnes Martin, whose work will soon appear at the Tate Modern. Gorgoni got his big break in the late 1960s when the Italian weekly L’Espresso commissioned him to create a photo essay on the New York City art scene. With help from the legendary art dealer Leo Castelli, a close contact of Gorgoni’s, he was able to shoot the likes of Warhol and Rauschengerg in a series of iconic portraits that would fascinate the public for decades. His unique style captures his subjects with extraordinary honesty and has allowed him to enjoy a wildly success career as an international photojournalist. His works have been featured in museums and galleries around the world, but the exhibition with ContiniArtUK marks the first of its kind in the UK as it focuses on leaders of contemporary art over the past four decades. Gianfranco Gorgoni’s “Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art” will run from June 2-7 at ContiniArtUK http://uk.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1167802/gianfranco-gorgonis-iconic-photographs-capture-artist#
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Behind the Scenes with New York's Greatest Artists — June 3, 2015 — As an exhibition of his extraordinary artist portraits arrives in London, Gianfranco Gorgoni reveals the stories behind his best shots
Andy Warhol reclines like a 1970s Titian on a satin adorned bed; a furtive and bespectacled Keith Haring clambers up a wire fence like an escaping prisoner; a wisely wrinkled Georgia O'Keefe gazes straight into the camera with a direct stare. These are just a number of the extraordinary portraits to have been captured by Roman photographer Gianfranco Gorgoni over the course of his five decade career. After discovering his love of photography, during a trip to London in 1965, Gorgoni began to dream of America and the exciting photo opportunities it promised. He finally made his way to New York on a freighter ship in 1968, in exchange for a photo essay of life on board, and soon struck up a fruitful partnership with Italian magazine L'Espresso. The publication commissioned him to create a story on the thriving New York City art scene, and by forging a close working relationship with renowned art dealer Leo Castelli, he soon found himself in the midst of the era's most influental artists. The resulting portraits remain as captivating today as they were at the time – offering a thrilling insight into the lives and minds of the twentieth century's most intriguing figures, who somehow seem so perfectly natural under Gorgoni's gaze. Here, as an exhibition of some of his finest works arrives in London, we discover the stories behind our five favourite images. Andy Warhol “This image was taken at Warhol’s house. I remember that during my visit he caught on tape all I was saying – he wouldn’t miss any chance to create.” 7
Georgia O’Keefe “Georgia was a really pioneering woman – she left a rich husband and went to live on her own in the desert. This picture, taken in 1974 in Abiquiú, New Mexico, was chosen by Weston Naef, Director of Photography at the MET museum in the 70s and shown alongside a portrait of young Georgia taken by Stieglitz, her latest husband.” 8
Jean-Michel Basquiat “This picture was taken in Jean-Michel’s studio in Soho just before he slashed some of his works because he was not satisfied with the result.”
Ellsworth Kelly “I went to visit Ellsworth in his studio in upstate New York and, knowing that he was making drawings of flowers and leaves at that time, I saw this nice leaf on the floor and asked him to hold it. He used it as a mask and the wind did the rest...” 9
Jeff Koons and Ilona Staller “In 1990, I was visiting the Biennale in Venice, and suddenly Jeff and Cicciolina came around the corner. This is a spontaneous portrait of them taken in front of the sculpture.�
Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art by Gianfranco Gorgoni is at ContiniArtUK until June 8.
http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/7478/behind-the-scenes-with-new-yorksgreatest-artists 10
Gianfranco Gorgoni Captured The Creative Hedonism Of The 1960s Art Scene by Lydia Morrish
Oftentimes it’s hard to tell the difference between one iconic photographer and the next, even if they did snap some of the biggest names in history during their exemplary careers. But you are sure to recognise some of the great works of this Italian photographer taken during 60s right up until now. After a trip to London in 1965, Gianfranco Gorgoni devoted his life to photography. Born in Rome, the Italian photographer has that slick and stylish aesthetic in his documented portraits.
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After moving to America in 1969, Gorgoni traveled up and down the land photographing hippy communes at the height of their lust after the summer of love in 67. He would then kickstart his professional photography career after capturing Jimi Hendrix in action at Woodstock, after selling the photos to Twen, a German monthly magazine, and L’Espresso. Getting in touch with legendary art dealer Leo Castelli might have been Gorgoni’s best decision ever, who then put him in touch with the first American greats and his new photographic subjects: Warhol, Litchenstein and Rauschenberg among them. He would then take his camera in posed and spontaneous settings to create images of the future leading figures to come.
Roy Lichtenstein at his studio in the Meatpacking District, New York (1988) Photo: Gianfranco Gorgoni @ ContiniArtUK
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Gorgoni’s captivating and revealing images still grace front covers and pages today, like Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times and are taking centre stage in a new, first of its kind UK exhibition – Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art – now open at ContiniArtUK. The exhibition will feature a series of the renowned Canadian-American painter Agnes Martin, Willem De Kooning, Joseph Beuys, Warhol and many of his other great portraitees. Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art is open now and runs until the 7th June 2015 at ContiniArtUK, 1 05 New Bond Street, London, W1S 1DN.
Christo during the the Miami Project, picture for Life magazine (1983) Photo: Gianfranco Gorgoni @ ContiniArtUK
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Keith Haring on a net at MoMa PS1 in New York (1985) Photo: Gianfranco Gorgoni @ ContiniArtUK
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Jean-Michel Basquiat in his studio in Soho (1985) Photo: Gianfranco Gorgoni @ ContiniArtUK
http://www.konbini.com/en/inspiration/gianfranco-gorgoni-captured-creative-hedonism-1960s-art-scene/
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Photography
THROUGH THE LENS: GIANFRANCO GORGONI Published on 02 June 2015
The late 1960s art scene in New York City has since become a time that has fallen into legend. Hedonism and unbridled creativity went hand in hand with huge social change and artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein came to the fore with their new take on pop culture. And there to capture this emerging era was photographer Gianfranco Gorgoni, who was initially commissioned by Italian magazine L’Espresso to shoot a photo series around the buzzing New York art scene, and is now celebrated in a new exhibition opening today. The photographer, through his relationship with art dealer Leo Catelli, photographed the likes of Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat in a series of unconventional images that perfectly summed up the changing mood of the time. Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art opens today and will run until the 7th June 2015 at ContiniArtUK, 105 New Bond Street, W1S 1DN
http://www.hungertv.com/feature/through-the-lens-gianfranco-gorgoni/
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https://www.jocksandnerds.com/articles/gianfranco-gorgoni-exhibition
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Un email dalla ContiniArtUk, galleria d'arte italiana a Bond Street, nel cuore di Londra, mi riporta indietro di trent'anni nel tempo: il messaggio avverte di una mostra dedicata a Gianfranco Gorgoni, "Through the lens: icons of contemporary arts", collezione di splendide immagini in bianco e nero e a colori sulle icone, non c'è altro modo davvero di definirle, della pop art e dell'avanguardia americana che esplose a New York fra gli anni '60 e i '70, ritratti di Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein e tanti altri artisti, con cui Gorgoni entrò in contatto attraverso Leo Castelli, mitico gallerista italiano della Soho di quell'epoca irripetibile, e di cui diventò amico. Quelle foto nacquero da una serie di reportage che gli furono commissionati dall'Espresso, attraverso Mauro Calamandrei, a lungo corrispondente del settimanale italiano dalla Big Apple, e poi diventarono anche un libro. E l'incontro con l'Espresso fece di Gorgoni, oltre che un grande ritrattista, anche un grande fotoreporter, le cui foto su guerre, terremoti, rivoluzioni hanno adornato le copertine di Time, Life, Newsweek e del New York Times, lavorando a lungo per Contact, l'agenzia dei più bravi fotografi americani dei decenni successivi. Fu così che lo conobbi anch'io, quando collaboravo all'Espresso dando una mano a Calamandrei in redazione; e fu così che con Gianfranco nel 1982 partimmo per un viaggio di due mesi attraverso il Centroamerica, dal Messico al Guatemala al Salvador, tra rifugiati, guerriglieri ribelli e regimi dittatoriali, finendo per assistere, quasi per caso, anche a un golpe, di cui fummo in pratica gli unici testimoni stranieri. Sono andato a riabbracciare Gianfranco, arrivato da New York (ha una casa ad Harlem, non lontano dall'ufficio della fondazione di Bill Clinton) per l'inaugurazione della sua mostra alla galleria Contini di Bond Street; siamo andati a pranzo insieme (sushi, lì vicino); e mi ha ricordato, a sprazzi, la sua incredibile storia. Abruzzese nato a Roma (i suoi avi vengono da un paesino chiamato Bomba), arriva a Milano e fa il garzone di macellaio, il barista, il commesso. Appena ha un po' di soldi parte per Londra per restarci una settimana e ci rimane tre mesi, cominciando così a fare fotografie, per la prima volta in vita sua, con una macchina ricevuta in prestito da un amico. Torna in Italia in autostop, passando per Parigi e Vienna, facendo altre foto. A Milano ovviamente ha perso il lavoro, ma intanto gli è nata una passione: si presenta da un fotografo che ha aperto uno studio per foto di moda, si offre come assistente gratuito, pur di imparare, e quello lo prende. Un giorno il fotografo affitta lo studio a Vogue e affitta in un certo senso anche Gianfranco. Arrivano Verushka e altre top model del momento. Dal piano di sotto Arnaldo Pomodoro sente il trambusto, vede chi c'è, prende i suoi gioielli e li mette al collo delle fotomodelle seminude. Gianfranco scatta, scatta. scatta: come in una scena di "Blow-up". Manda le foto delle modelle ingioiellate a una rivista semi-erotica di 20
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Genova. La rivista non lo paga, allora lui va a reclamare i soldi. A Genova vede il mare, pensa alla traversata oceanica, all'America; si presenta all'Italsider e si offre di fotografare una nave che va a New York, se gli danno un passaggio gratis. Glielo danno. Arriva a New York senza conoscere nessuno, con 50 mila lire in tasca e piani di fermarsi due mesi: non se n'è più andato. Racconto solo un altro pezzetto della sua storia. Fra i tanti paesi del mondo che ha fotografato, un posto di primo piano ce l'ha Cuba, dove Gianfranco è stato tante volte e si è fatto tanti amici. Una volta è ospite di Alberto Korda, il fotografo cubano autore del celebre ritratto di Che Guevara. Una sera vanno a cena dal vicepresidente cubano che vuole vedere le foto di Gianfranco su Cuba di cui Korda gli ha parlato. Uno degli ospiti della serata è Gabriel Garcia Marquez: le foto gli piacciono così tanto che esorta Gorgoni a raccoglierle in un libro e si offre di scrivere l'introduzione (come poi farà). Ma l'ospite d'onore arriva, a sorpresa, all'una di notte: Fidel Castro. "Vi divertite senza di me, cosa state combinando?" dice alla folta combriccola, e quando viene a sapere il motivo della serata va a sedersi di fianco a Gianfranco e vuole rivedere le foto. Gorgoni gli dice che gli piacerebbe seguirlo e fotografarlo per una giornata. "E va bene, lo porteremo con noi a Santiago de Cuba", dice Fidel prima di andarsene, facendo l'occhiolino a Marquez. Scherza? Fa sul serio? Korda avverte Gianfranco di non muoversi più da casa: "Fidel può mandarti a prendere in qualunque momento". E tre giorni dopo un autista in Alfetta viene a prenderlo come promesso. Lo conduce a una pista d'aeroporto. Gianfranco sale su un aereo e viene fatto accomodare in una saletta: c'è Marquez, c'è il vicepresidente cubano, per ultimo, poco prima della partenza, arriva anche Fidel. Dopo un po' che sono in volo Castro domanda a Marquez: "Ma che ora sarà, col fuso orario, quando arriviamo?" Gianfranco strabuzza: ma come, a Santiago ci sarà la stessa ora che all'Avana, no? Poi gli viene un sospetto e comincia a chiedere dove stanno andando. Fidel si mette a ridere: "Il companero italiano vuol sapere dove andiamo eh?" Vanno in Nicaragua, per l'inaugurazione della presidenza sandinista dopo la rivoluzione. Tutta la delegazione cubana è vestita con eleganza: solo Gianfranco è in jeans e maglietta, perché pensava di trascorrere una giornata in giro per Santiago de Cuba. Non ha con sé neanche il passaporto: ma non è un problema, quando arrivi sull'aereo di Fidel. Il libro su Cuba se lo è poi pubblicato a sue spese. "La spia buona", si intitola l'introduzione di Garcia Marquez, per differenziarlo dalla "spia cattiva", l'aereo-spia americano che volava su Cuba fotografandola. Se fossi un editore italiano, chiamerei Gorgoni per ripubblicarlo. E per chiedergli di aggiungerci almeno un capitolo sul resto della sua vita, di cui l'avventura con Gabo e Fidel è soltanto un episodio.
http://franceschini.blogautore.repubblica.it/2015/06/04/io-gabo-e-fidel/ 21
By Stephanie Smith-Strickland Photographer Gianfranco Gorgoni’s career has stretched over five decades, and throughout this tenure, he’s had the fortune of archiving the lives of some of the most recognized artists of contemporary times. From Andy Warhol to Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basqiuat, Ellsworth Kelly, Jeff Koons and Georgia O’ Keeffe, Gorgoni’s personality-driven portraits expose the artist as a person rather than the forever immortalized, untouchable creator many of us have come to consider them. Originally from Rome, Gorgoni moved to New York in 1968 after becoming enamored with photography during a trip to London three years earlier. Ever enterprising, Gorgoni actually bartered his way to New York on a freighter ship, exchanging a photo essay of sea life for passage to the Big Apple. Soon after arriving stateside, he began a partnership with Italian magazine “L’Espresso,” who commissioned him to cover the vibrant art world of New York. It was this partnership that led him to acclaimed art dealer Leo Castelli, a man who would prove to be the bridge that connected the photographer to the city’s most influential and enduring creatives. Gorgoni’s portraits were recently on display in London as part of the Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art by Gianfranco Gorgoni exhibition. In homage to the show, “AnOther” Magazine shared some of the true stories behind Gorgoni’s most recognized portraits. Learn more about them over at AnOther.
http://www.selectism.com/author/stephaniesstrickland/ 22
http://www.rexfeatures.com/livefeed/printable/y133794a37/gianfranco_gorgoni_exhibition_at_contini_art_uk, _london
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