Royal Gardens, and More Photography

Wednesday October 12 was another beautiful day with a high of 22C.  Lots of sun until mid afternoon and then a bit of cloud.  We were planning on visiting the Royal Palace of Torino, a historic palace of the House of Savoy originally built in the 16th century (1646-1660) and modernised in the 17th century, by a French architect, with designs by the Baroque architect Filippo Juvarra.  In 1946, the building became the property of the state and was turned into a museum.  In 1997, it was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list along with 13 other residences of the House of Savoy.

Walking towards the entrance

Petting the dog

However, it was such a nice day that we decided not to visit the Palace.  Instead we walked through the courtyard to the Royal Gardens  (Giardini Reali) which are a five hectare park area just behind the Palace.  The gardens are free and very well kept.  

The Palace and start of the gardens

Couldn't resist the Dalmatians

As well as some permanent sculptures in the gardens, there were also a number of animal art installations, which are there until October 16, 2022.  

Animals at Court

Paolo Albertelli e Mariagrazia Abbaldo, Il passo delle balene

Looking back at the Palace

Fountain

The older sculptures

View of Mole Antonelliana

Riccarda Montenero, Dedicato al Centenario del Cinema

Riccarda Montenero, Dedicato al JVC Newport Jazz Festival 1995, Torino

Mario Merz, Senza titolo (doppio igloo de Porto), 1998

Giulio Paolini (Genova, b. 1940) Pietre Preziose, 2017

Water in Italy is very good and drinkable

Another old guy

Cracking Art Regeneramento, 2009

View of the Palace from the back

Back in Piazza Castello with Royal Church

After we left the Royal Gardens, we walked  down to the Gallerie d'Italia-Torino, our next destination.

Porticos on Via Roma-- 21C!

We stopped at Antony Morato, an Italian designer from a town near Naples.

Alonso in the Felix the Cat, capsule collection

Lots of fun

We then reached Galerie d'Italia Torino, a new museum dedicated to photography which just opened on May 16, 2022.  It is the fourth museum of Intesa Sanpaolo, a leading Italian bank.  It has 10,000 square metre of exhibition space on five floors, of which three are underground.  The Bank is the owner of the historic Palazzo Turinetti, where the Galleria is now located.  It has been transformed into a unique place for photography, video and events linked to the development of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) sustainability.  It is also the home of the Bank's photo archives with around 7 million shots taken between the 1930s and 1990s by one of the leading agencies of Italian photojournalism.

Entrance to the Gallerie-below ground

Getting our tickets

We first went to see an incredible exhibit by American photographer Gregory Crewdson (b. 1962), who has been fleshing out a portrait of Middle America for the past 30 years.   The exhibition brings together for the first time, three bodies of work made between 2012-2022.  Envisaged as a trilogy, they explore both the personal and the political.  A number of pictures feature his romantic and creative partner Juliane Hiam and their children.  The first series is called Cathedral of the Pines ( 2012-2014); the second is An Eclipse of Moths (2018-2019) and the third is Eveningside (2021-22).  

There was first a smaller-scale set of photos from an earlier series, Fireflies, made in 1996, without the sets and elaborate post- production that usually accompanies Crewdson's works.  This series was kept away from the public for a decade.   Crewdson took the 61 photos of the Fireflies series in the summer of 1996, literally out of the blue.  It arose during a time of emotional loss in the isolation of his family cabin in Becket, Massachusetts.  Music accompanied this section and it was an incredible series of photographs.  Very contemplative.  One really has to see them in person without the reflections on the glass in my photos.

From the Fireflies series

Very modern gallery.

We then went into a very modern video screening room and watched a video of some of the photographs from each part of the trilogy.  Extremely well produced focusing on the details of the photograph and then the entire picture.  Then we went down a floor and saw the full series of photographs.  There was a lot of reflection, so I am including some of the material from the video and then some of the actual photographs.  It was a brilliant show.  In some ways quite depressing as Crewdson moves from the personal to the political in portraying small town Massachusetts in the Trump era and beyond.  His style reminded us of Edward Hopper and Alex Colville. 

Incredible detail and work went into the conception and production of the photos.

Cathedral of the Pines, the first part of the trilogy, was planned and implemented near the town of Becket. The compositions were made over three six-week long sessions.  Crewdson was cross-country skiing though the woods when a signpost for a trail called "Cathedral of the Pines" spurred an unexpected creative process.  

First detail

Another detail

The final picture of one photo from the Cathedral of the Pines Series

An Eclipse of Moths, the second part of the trilogy, was set in Pittsfield about 12 miles from Becket and is the birthplace of Juliane Hiam.  Her parents worked for General Electric, which employed most of the town's residents.  When the factory shut down in the late 80's, the town was economically devastated.  The poetry of Fireflies has faded into the ravaged town as the lights die out.  This series was made in 2018-19, during the Trump presidency.

Detail

Another

One More

Final Photo- Redemption Center, 2018-2019

Detail

Final Photo: Starkfield Lane, 2018-19

Eveningside 2021-2022. Eveningside, the final part of the trilogy,  covered several townships in the vicinity of Becket and Pittsfield in order to sketch out a generic hybrid town in decline.

Detail

Another detail

One more

Final Photo: 8 to 10 Cleaning Services, 2021-2022

Detail

Another

One more

Final Photo- Jim's Shoes

Detail

Detail

Final photo: Under the 4th Street Bridge 2021-2022

The Ice Machine, 2021-2022

We then went to the floor above ground to view the "Permanent Collection."  We were amazed to find this section contains about 40 paintings, sculptures, tapestries and furnishings from the 14th to 18th centuries that fit the buildings baroque ornamentation.  Most were acquired during the 1980s as part of renewed interest in the art of the Piedmont region.

Top floor entrance

The start of the medieval and renaissance section

St. Eulalia, 1501-1505, Gandolfino da Roreto, Asti, 1470-75 CA- Post 1521 

Beautiful rooms

Modern video in room

Baroque again

Chinese Wallpaper Room- ceiling from a Palazzo which was seriously damaged by bombs during WWII and subsequently demolished.  Wallpaper with scenes from Chinese everyday life, 1760-1780

The furnishings and ceilings in each room were the highlights

Tapestry woven around the mid 1700s by the Beauvais manufactory

We then went down to the lowest level of the Gallerie to see an amazing exhibit of photos by Lisetta Carmi entitled Suonare Forte.  This show launches a series of exhibitions at Galleries d'Italia- Torino, to celebrate great 20th century Italian photography.  The title of this exhibit translates as "Play hard" and evokes the life of Lisetta Carmi (1924-2022). 

Lisetta Carmi was born into an affluent middle-class family of Jewish origin in Genoa in 1924.  Due to the racial laws enacted in Italy in the 1930s, she was forced to leave school in 1938 and take refuge with her family in Switzerland.  It 1945, she returned to Italy and graduated with a diploma in piano from the Milan Conservatory.  She then began a career as a concert pianist.  On June 30, 1960 she decided to take place in a protest march by dockworkers.  Her piano teacher told her not to do so to protect her hands. She thought that if her hands were more important than the lives of other people, she should stop playing the piano.  

She took up photography as her new profession.  In 1964, she posed as a cousin of a dock worker and produced an exclusive report of the working conditions in the port of Genoa. She then reported on Sardinia, and later worked on a series of photographs in the Paris Métro.  Carmi's focus was on representing outcasts and socially marginalized subjects.  From 1965-1971, she worked on her most acclaimed project, which would become a book in 1972, dedicated to Genoese transvestites, entitled I travestiti.  She died in Cisternino, Puglia on July 5, 2022 at the age of 98.

Exhibit entrance

There was a section on women 1962-1977.  Carmi travelled extensively to Israel, Egypt, Europe, India, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Morocco and Mexico.

Sicily, Favara, 1977

Arab women- Israel-Rosh Pinna, 1967

Bedouin camp, Israel, Beersheba, 1962-63

Sicily, Favara, 1977

There was a section of 12 photos from the 20 or so shots she took in 1966, during a brief encounter with Ezra Pound in Sant'Ambrogio di Zoagli.  Carmi won the prestigious "Niépce Prize for Italy".  Jury member Umberto Eco said: " This sequence by Lisetta Carmi says more about Ezra Pound than all the articles written about him, his complexity and extraordinary nature."  Carmi said, "Pound didn't say a word, the meeting lasted a few minutes, we just looked at each other; we met the shadow of a poet."

Ezra Pound, 1966

In the section entitled Work 1962-1976, there were photos from the port of Genoa showing the harsh working conditions.  She also photographed the inside of the Italsider steel plant and documented female workers in the cork factories in Sardinia.

The port of Genoa, 1964

Cork factory, Calangianus, Sardinia, 1964

1964- To the Workers of Italsider of Genoa

Carmi had a wonderful series entitled Métropolitain, focusing on the Paris Métro in 1965.  She selected about 40 images for a book.  In 1967, she was awarded the second Prize for Culture in Photography in Fermo for Metropolitain.

There was a 2016 interview with Lisetta Carmi in which she talks about photographing transvestites in Genoa from 1965- 1971.  Very groundbreaking work in which she made many friends in the community, focusing on them as human beings.

The Transvestites 1965-1971:  A long "story" in pictures, begun on New Year's Eve in 1965, about the transvestite community in the old part of Genoa.  She said that "men and women do not exist, there are only human beings."

Final picture of Lisetta Carmi-- an incredible life and groundbreaking photojournalist

After the Gallerie, we wandered into the next Piazza and decided to have a gelato at Alberto Marchetti, which had been recommended by our guide and the New York Times.

Outside of Alberto Marchetti Gelaterie- busy spot

Alonso with his zabaione and gianduja (Torino chocolate)

Yum

Counter

We wandered a bit more and then headed back on Via Garibaldi, stopping at El Formagé to get some charcuterie for dinner.

Picture from the internet as I forgot to take an outside shot

Getting our order--great selection of meats and cheeses

Lots of nice sauces-- definitely a local place- folks walking home were stopping in

Charcuterie plate at the apartment

And just like that, we conclude our visit to Torino.  It really is a fantastic city to visit.  The combination of the architecture, food, museums and galleries, parks and its walkability is terrific.  As people here are always reminding us, Torino was once the capital of Italy!!  Highly, highly recommend to visit before it becomes a big tourist destination.  Tomorrow we are taking a short train ride to Alba.  The blog will resume there either tomorrow (October 13) or Friday (October 14).