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Bruno Barbey in Italy: Dolce Vita

The Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris pays tribute to the great Franco-Swiss photographer Bruno Barbey (1941-2020), born in Morocco and a member of the Magnum agency, with the exhibition "The Italians".

In 1962, Bruno Barbey, then 21 years old, decided to travel around Italy with the idea of "capturing the spirit of a nation through images". The trauma of war gave way to the dream of a new Italy. Throughout the country, Bruno Barbey photographed what makes Italy: from the ragazzi to the aristocrats, including nuns, beggars, prostitutes...

Rome, 1964. © Bruno Barbey / Magnum

Naples, 1966. © Bruno Barbey / Magnum

Palermo 1966. © Bruno Barbey/ Magnum

"To draw up a portrait of Italians through images was the ambition of this project... To do this, I travelled throughout Italy from North to South... Nothing encyclopedic in these successive trips but an emotional journey, in the image of a country whose fantasy defies all methodology."

Rome, 1966 © Bruno Barbey / Magnum

Sicily, 1966. © Bruno Barbey / Magnum

This exhibition presents about sixty prints chosen personally by Bruno Barbey Bruno Barbey, shortly before his death on November 9, 2020. It was not until 2002 that a first edition of these images was published by Delpire & co. The second edition was published in November 2022.


"The Italians" by Bruno Barbey, Pavillon Comtesse de Caen of the Académie des beaux-arts, Palais de l'Institut de France, 27 quai de Conti, Paris VIe.

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