In an interview with WWD in 2021, Di Paolo also offered a glimpse of the moments shared with Piccioli. “That was for fun. I took the camera with me in case it turned out to be useful,” said the photographer. “I did it also because of Pierpaolo [Piccioli], who is a dear friend. Then, at a certain moment there was a model trying a dress and a headgear that was made of corals that looked like one I photographed in 1967. It was so beautiful,” he added.
“So when they were doing the fittings, an image came to my mind and I said, ‘Everybody stops’ and there was this staircase, so I checked the light there. They were probably thinking, ‘Now this 95-year-old man [gets hurt]’ but I regained so much energy in that moment.…I still know how to take pictures, you know. I still like to take pictures, but just for fun now,” he said at the time.
The collaboration with Valentino was part of a momentum that brought fresh attention to Di Paolo’s work in recent years. In fact, the photographer quit the profession roughly 60 years ago “when the atmosphere changed in Italy, and all people wanted were scandals,” he said in 2021, referencing how, with the advent of television and paparazzi, information increasingly pivoted toward news and gossip scoops.
“For me photography had to be informative, narrative. You might not know the subject but you understand the situation. In every image there’s a story to tell, even if it’s a static one. That was my law,” he offered.
Di Paolo’s photographic archives with more than 250,000 negatives, contact sheets, prints and slides, remained hidden for decades until his daughter found them by chance in the early 2000s and brought them back to light, gradually reviving the public’s interest in his work.
In 2019, Rome’s MAXXI museum, the Museum of the Arts for the 21st Century, dedicated an extensive retrospective to the photographer, titled “Mondo Perduto,” or “Lost World.” As reported, back then Gucci teamed with the museum on the publication of the exhibition book, which gathered more than 300 photos taken between 1954 and 1968.
The show was followed by two other exhibitions staged in 2021 at Galleria Carla Sozzani, at the 10 Corso Como location in Milan. Both curated by Di Paolo’s daughter, one was titled “Milano (fotografie 1956-1962)” and presented a selection of images celebrating the city and shedding a poetic light on Milanese landmarks in the ’60s. The other was dubbed ““La Lunga Strada Di Sabbia,” or “The Long Road of Sand,” and displayed 101 images — several unpublished — flanked by text by Pasolini.
The exhibit referenced an editorial work Di Paolo and Pasolini developed in 1959. Published by the Successo magazine in three issues, it reported on Italians on vacation, anticipating Italy’s rebirth in the 1960s.
At the time, Pasolini was not a film director yet but had published “The Best of Youth,” “The Street Kids” and “A Violent Life.” The two didn’t know each other and made for a delicate partnership on the assignment. For example, after setting off together with the plan of traveling along the coasts of Italy, they had different visions.
“Pasolini was looking for a lost world of literary ghosts, an Italy that no longer existed,” recalled Di Paolo at the show opening. “I was looking for an Italy that looked to the future. I conceived the title meaning the strenuous road traveled by Italians to reach well-being and holidays after the war.”
That first experience ended up in mutual respect and trust, with Di Paolo identifying his favorite image with the black-and-white photograph portraying Pasolini himself in a city’s outskirts.
On Monday, Fondazione Sozzani took to Instagram to pay tribute to the photographer, sharing a message that read: “Fondazione Sozzani is deeply sad to hear about the passing of Paolo Di Paolo and wishes to remember the great contribution he gave to the history of Italian photography. During “La Lunga Strada Di Sabbia,” which we hosted in 2021, a strong and kind friendship was born between the Fondazione and Paolo Di Paolo and his daughter Silvia Di Paolo, who curated the exhibition. Our deepest sympathy goes out to her and all his family at this difficult time.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp5l7pLvMaJyynV%2BlsrC8y55moqyRobaiuoypn6isn5y%2ForzHnqlmqJGkubB5w6JkqZmfobxusMieqmZpYmiCd4SRcW5rZw%3D%3D