A pioneer of color photography and one of the most influential landscape photographers of our time, Franco Fontana has dedicated nearly six decades to capturing his surroundings with a masterful eye for composition and tone.
Born in Modena, Italy, in 1933, Franco Fontana began experimenting with photography in his early thirties as a way “to express the emotions he felt while observing the world around him.”
It was the early 1960s, more than a decade and a half before color photography began to be accepted as a legitimate art form. Franco Fontana’s affinity for painting laid the foundation for his photographic practice.
Creativity does not mean photographing what is, but what we imagine to be. […] The photographer discovers the world through what lies within, yet simultaneously needs the world to make that discovery. So, set the artist within you free, and let that artist take photographs first and think later.” Franco Fontana.
Franco Fontana has mastered the magic of color, creating landscapes suspended between earth and sky, seas merging into the horizon, and cityscapes that border on abstraction. He employs a distinctive visual language characterized by vivid, luminous, and dazzling colors that seem almost unreal or imaginary, whether in the landscapes of his beloved Italy from his early career, his explorations of urban settings and swimming pools, or the erotic allure of his nude studies.
While widely known to the general public for his work on numerous advertising campaigns, for brands such as Volkswagen, Volvo, Ferrari, Grundig, Kodak, Satoh, Versace, and Hermès, as well as various artistic calendars, he is, above all, one of the truly great photographers of our time.
At first glance, Franco Fontana’s most iconic works resemble paintings, recalling the Abstract Expressionists who emerged in the United States in the 1950s.
His unique eye for color and form distills natural landscapes into their essential elements, resulting in striking geometric compositions that captivate through their simplicity.
As a subtle colorist, Franco Fontana photographed American urban landscapes between 1985 and 2001 as metaphysical enigmas, treating the shadows of his figures as a form of doubling that lends each scene a faintly spectral quality, as if America were the contemporary equivalent of medieval Purgatory and everyone were awaiting judgment.
Drawing inspiration from luminaries such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, he embraced color from the very beginning.
“I have always sought to interpret and convey what resonates deeply within me. However, I began to perceive possible parallels with renowned painters as my interest in art—and painting in particular—deepened. It was a visual understanding of color and space that was already present in my perception.”
In the late 1960s, Franco Fontana’s unique vision began to attract attention. He held his first solo exhibition in 1968 in his hometown of Modena, and over the following decade, he created some of his most iconic works—notably his stunning depictions of the rolling landscapes of Basilicata, which showcase the unique visual language for which he would become famous.
Alongside these works, he also began experimenting with Polaroids, capturing details of his surroundings as well as nude portraits.