Pur avendo lavorato con Pietro Donzelli in molte occasioni quando su mandato del dott Bergonzi lo accompagnavo sui cantieri delle Reti Urbane negli anni 70-80 , non sapevo di avere al mio fianco un personaggio famoso ed un fotografo di grido i cui lavori oggi sono esposti nei musei europei e statunitensi. Da persona riservata e modesta non lo dava a vedere eppure trascorse in Sirti ben 40 anni . In questi giorni, abbiamo riflettuto con Francesco Romano su una possibile mostra presso il Museo Della Fotografia del Castello Sforzesco a cui abbiamo, come Associazione, donato una immensa documentazione fotografica delle opere di Donzelli salvate fortunatamente dal macero grazie alla decisione del socio Scalmani di custodirle invece di gettarle nel cassone dei rifiuti. Ebbene ci siamo trovati d’accordo di pensare col contributo del Comune , magari del Circolo Fotografico Milanese e della compagna del compianto Pietro ( che sto cercando di contattare ) di dedicare la mostra proprio a lui ed alle opere riguardanti la sua attività lavorativa. Speriamo nella riuscita di questo progetto che darebbe visibilità meritata oltre che a Pietro anche alla nostra “vecchia” Signora
Pietro Donzelli was one of the most important figures in Italian photography after the second world war. He played a central role there during the 1950s and 1960s not only as a photographer but also as a curator and critic. The subjects of his black-and-white images, full of light and magic, were the streets and interiors of Milan and Naples as well as the great landscapes of Italy – in Sardinia, Calabria or Campania or Sicily.
The Podelta, the barren landscape so often featured in the neorealistic films of the day, was his special passion. Time and again during those two decades he returned to those areas and created his most famous series called Land without Shadow.
These photographs are a monument to Donzelli’s native Italy and his fellow countrymen during that post-war era. Influenced by French and Italian cinema, and by the photographers of the Farm Security Administration in America, his images are both contemporary documents and yet transcend the mere documentary. Though recording the past they have a magic and poetry that is timeless and universal.
Donzelli’s photographs are held in important collections such as the Folkwang Museum in Essen, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Edward Steichen, director of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, wrote to Donzelli in 1954:
“Your(s) images concerned with human consciousness rather than social consciousness, concerned with man’s dreams and aspirations and photographs of the flaming creative forces and love and truth and the corrosive evil inherent in the lie.
The Museum of Modern Art feels honoured to keep the photographs in its collection.”
https://www.pietrodonzelli.com/vita.html