Biographical / Historical
German-born photographer and scholar Max Hutzel (1911-1988) photographed in Italy from the
early 1960s until the late 1980s, resulting in a vast body of photographs that he referred
to as "Foto arte minore." Over the years he amassed a collection of about one million
negatives and sold his photographs to individual scholars for publication and to
institutions such as the Biblioteca Herziana, the National Gallery in Washington, and the
Kunsthistorische Institut in Florence. He used the revenue from these sales, in addition to
some financial support he received from his brother in Germany, to continue his work until
his death.
Hutzel studied printmaking and graphics in Stuttgart. Impressed by Walter Gropius and the
Bauhaus School, he developed a deep interest in photography and studied with Paul Wolff.
After World War II, he settled in Italy and by the beginning of the 1960's, he had devoted
himself to the photographic documentation of art and architecture. Applying techniques and
aesthetic solutions he learned from the Bauhaus movement, Hutzel's approach went beyond the
purely documentary. His photography represented his artistic interpretation of Italian art
and his sense of being in a specific place. He compared himself to the European scholars and
researchers who traveled through Italy drawing in their notebooks as they studied the
history and archeological artifacts of the region.
Hutzel comprehensively documented lesser known monuments, attempting to include everything
that is connected with art historical development in Italy up to the 18th century:
architecture, sculpture, wall painting, panel painting, museum objects and religious
artifacts from the Etruscan and Roman civilizations and the early Medieval, Romanesque,
Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods. In order to document architecture within its
topographical context, he often photographed general and panoramic views of towns seen from
afar, streets, and clusters of buildings. He also provided a glimpse of the social context
by sometimes including residents, passersby, and vehicles.
|
