State Museum and Exhibition Centre for Photography ROSPHOTO

Supported by
Ministry for Culture of the Russian Federation
Italian Institute of Culture (Moscow)
Italian Institute of Culture (Saint-Petersburg)

FRANCO FONTANA. PHOTOGRAPHY
13.04 – 20.05.2012

Opening: 12 April 2012 at 18:00, Front Building exhibition hall, 3 floor

ROSPHOTO introduces to audience the work of Franco Fontana, one of the most outstanding masters of contemporary art photography in Italy. The retrospective exhibition embraces photographs from the period of 1970-2007, from the author's own collection.

Fontana's style was shaped in the late 1960s under the influence of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. In that his teachers were his older conpemporaries, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Ed Reinhardt. Fontana's work with its focus on form and colour was quite different from the classical black-and-white art photography that was predominant at that time.

Franco Fontana's images of rural and urban landscapes are notable for their strict geometric composition and expressive colour. He says, ''I try to isolate in space and time all that is normally mixed up with an inifinity of details. Extracting a few essential elements from the entirety that presents itself to the human eye is one of my inner requirements.''

Fontana had numerous personal exhibitions and took part in group shows including those held at the European House of Photography (Paris), The National Museum of Fine Arts (Buenos Aires), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Centre of Photography Scavi Scaligeri (Verona), Palazzo Reale (Milan).

The artist has collaborated with Time, Life, Vogue USA, Vogue France, Venerdi Di Repubblica, Sette Del Corriere Della Sera, Panorama, Class, Frankfurter Allgemeine.
He has worked numerously for advertizement campaigns of brands like Fiat, Volkswagen, Sony, Volvo, Canon, Kodak, Snam, Robe Di Kappa.

Fontana's works are represented in the most famous museums in the world, including The Museum of Modern Art, (New York), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography,
George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film (Rochester), Ludwig Museum (Cologne), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Museum of Modern Art (Paris), The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), Victoria and Albert Museum (London).

In 1994 he received UNESCO award in Arts.

Exhibition is curated by Andrey Martynov.