Branzi, Piergiorgio

Piergiorgio Branzi ( Italian: Piergiorgio Branzi ; born September 6, 1928 ) was an Italian photographer .

He received a classical education and studied at the Faculty of Law , until at some point he decided to devote himself entirely to photography and journalism . He first picked up a camera in the early fifties, after having visited the exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson .

Success quickly came to him, both in Italy and abroad. Branzi collaborated with the first weeklies, especially Il Mondo , led by Mario Pannunzio ( Italian: Mario Pannunzio ). He also belonged to the group of photographers La Bussola , created by Giuseppe Cavalli , And later in the group La Misa . In the sixties, he began working as a journalist, lived for several years in Moscow as a television reporter , and then in Paris . As a columnist and special correspondent, he shot for RAI (Italian Public TV) a number of reports and documentaries in Europe , Asia and Africa .

Pierjorio Branzi, since his first experiences of the fifties, has always acted as the most "European" master among the post-war young Italian photographers. His work and rich experience helped him to remain independent of the artistic trends that emerged in that era and to solve the most pressing and sophisticated tasks facing world photography. His pictures — whether at a bar stand, on the street, in a shop window, or above a window — became more universal symbols than reflections of specific events in everyday life.

His work marked a new phenomenon in Italian photography, called " formalistic realism ." Branzi played an important role in changing the nature of journalism and newspaper business in the postwar years. His works reflect the process of the emergence of mass culture , the development of morals and style of a strengthening middle class and the gradually increasing uniformity of Italian society, which is accompanied by the spread of the ideology of consumption.