Three exhibitions to rediscover the revolutionary photography of Mario Cresci

When he was still living in Matera, between the seventies and eighties, Mario Cresci he used to travel north to visit his friend Luigi Ghirri, with whom he discussed and compared the new trends in photography. Once, along the way, he had stopped in Senigallia, where Mario Giacomelli lived, already considered a sort of prophet of fine art photography. Cresci told the master that he was on his way to visit the Modenese artist. “Ah, Ghirri, the one in the photos with the pastel colors… Yes, but he’s good…”. Arriving at his friend’s house, he said that he had stopped by to say hello to Giacomelli. And the other: “Ah, Giacomelli, he continues to do that black and white there, all dramatic… Yes, but he’s good…”. Since then, explains Cresci, the question of whether he should shoot in color or in black and white has no longer arisen, it was not that choice that would have marked his destiny as an artist. Greatness was something else.