Vaporetto, Berengo Gardin’s ‘best shot’, left. The photographer himself in 2015, right. Credit: Alessio Jacona / Wikimedia.
Photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin, who documented Italy’s post-war society and is revered in the country, has died two months shy of his 95th birthday.
Berengo Gardin was born in 1930 and identified as Venetian, despite being born in Santa Margherita Ligure near Genoa. “My father is Venetian from St Mark’s Square, my wife is Venetian, my children are Venetian. Although I was not born there, I have always considered myself an adopted Venetian,” Reuters quotes him as once saying.
Berengo Gardin has been compared to the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson thanks to his tireless work and wicked eye while documenting the streets of Venice and beyond.
“I am not an artist, nor do I wish to be: I am only a witness of my era,” he said of himself. Berengo Gardin published more than 250 books and his work has been exhibited dozens of times in Italy and abroad.
Berengo Gardin began his photography career in 1954, taking no formal training instead picking up the skill while working in Paris for a couple of years with the help and encouragement of other photographers. According to his Wikipedia page, Berengo Gardin would submit photos to Il Mondo magazine that published street scenes and had a flair for it.
In 1962, he turned professional and worked for Italian tourism companies before later working with architect Renzo Piano to document the design process of his buildings. He also worked with well-known Italian companies like Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Olivetti.
Vaporetto, 1960.
Berengo Gardin idolized Cartier-Bresson, telling The Guardian in 2014 that he “was a god to me” while talking about one of his photos, Vaporetto, which Cartier-Bresson included in his top 100 photographs ever. “He once dedicated a book to me ‘with affection and admiration’,” said Berengo Gardin. “It was the greatest gift I ever received.”
A vaporetto is a public water bus that operates on the canals of Venice, and Berengo Gardin said that the 1960 photo was the best shot he ever took. It is in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a print sold at Christie’s for 38,000 Euros ($44,000).
“In Gianni Berengo Gardin, we have lost an undisputed master of photography,” says Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli. “He was a true explorer who knew how to portray humanity and nature in every corner of the earth. His gaze illuminated the history of the 20th century.”