Marialba Russo

An Italian Photographer

Tucker Tavarone

Personal Information
Marialba Russo was born in Italy in 1947. The exact location is
not clear but she lived in Rome until 1987 and studied in Naples.
She studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples,
Italy.

Her social circle is not clear either, although she collaborated

with Italian and foreign newspapers and worked for Vogue
Italy.
She primarily produced photographic work starting in the late
sixties.

My Focus - Incanto
The series is called Incanto in Italian or Enchantment in
English.
Series of work showing lone elements of nature, usually
sticks or rocks in water or on a solid surface.
The pictures are all in Black and White.
Her focus was probably to capture the enchanting beauty of
these plain objects in nature.
The pictures also have a message of simplicity, they are
focusing on one object and it is very plain and simple.

Lines, textures, shape, value.

Balance, Unity, Movement, Rhythm.

The photos here were planned, they

were done using a gelatin silver print
process, a process in a darkroom where
chemicals are used to bring out the
photos on black and white films.
The camera used is unknown, but film
is black and white film (gelatin silver
film paper). These photos were very
obviously planned due to the lengthy
process of reproducing them later.
The camera angle of these photos is
usually from a high angle, looking down
and at the subject.
Lighting in all these pictures is natural,
it is shown by the lighter values and
reflections of light off of the surfaces in
the pictures.

Form, value. Emphasis on

centered subject.

Lines, textures, value, pattern.

Lines, textures, value, balance, space.

Italy
The subjects in these photos were mainly people.
The same photo materials were used as the last series.
The camera angles are all coming from eye level with
the people or a face to face interac:on level. There is
one that comes from above.
The ligh:ng is natural in each photo, it comes out in
dierent ways yielding dierent values in each photo.

Space, value, shape, movement.

Camera angle: from above.
Perspective.

Balance, space, form.

Value, texture.

Space, movement, emphasis.

Balance, space, unity,

Roma, Fasti Moderni e il disordine del tempo

Translation: Modern pomp and clutter of time
Photos with a lot of emphasis on shadows, the
natural lighting makes the shadows.
The photos look planned, because the lighting
and shadows had to come together in just the
right way.
The subject matter is almost what is not there.
The shadows leave it up to the imagination.
The photos have a mysterious feel in all of them.

Values, vertical lines, form.

Movement, line, form, balance, space.

Textures, value, form.

Shapes, value, space.

Lines, form, value, rhythm,

repition.

Final Notes
Russo focuses a lot on value. Adding a lot of
contrast between lights and darks in all the photos
makes them more interesting than a normal black
and white photo.
The photos are all very simple, they dont have a lot
of elements in them that make them difficult or
hard to understand and look at.
Makes the reasoning behind the photos more
apparent, and they are all easily related to each
other.

Bibliography
"Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
"Home Contents Online Exhibi:ons Marialba Russo: An Evolving Retrospec:ve." Luminous-Lint.
Luminous-Lint, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
"Marialba Russo." Kalenarte. KreaUvamente, 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
"Marialba Russo." Marialba Russo. S.t. Foto Libreria Galleria, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.