Scanno

From the Getty Museum record

Following his sustained observation of hospice residents in Senigallia ([2016.179.6.10](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297444/), [2016.179.6.11](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297445/), [2016.179.6.12](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297446/), [2016.179.40](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297490/), [2020.74](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/350481/)), the photographs that Giacomelli made during trips to Scanno in 1957 and 1959 further demonstrate his ability to describe people in a specific time and place. In this town located in the Apennine Mountains of central Italy, about 270 miles south of Senigallia, Giacomelli encountered men and women going about their daily chores or gathering in the square, draped in dark garments or cloaks, their heads covered with hats or scarves. Even when congregating, subjects seem to be isolated or lost in thought. Whether in sharp focus or blurred by movement, the occasional individual who looks directly into his camera suggests a sense of mystery or furtiveness. Giacomelli used a slow shutter speed and shallow depth of field to photograph these stark, black-clad figures against whitewashed architectural settings, introducing indistinct passages that amplify the fairy-tale mood of a town that appears to be irretrievably steeped in the past. See other examples of works from this series ([2016.179.7](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297453/), [2016.179.5.12](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297427/), [2016.179.6.9](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297443/), [2016.179.6.14](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297448/), [2016.179.6.17](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297451), [2016.179.26](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297475/), [2016.179.30](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297479/), [2016.179.35](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297484/), [2016.179.39](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297489/), [2016.179.41](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297492/), [2016.179.44](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297498/), [2016.179.61](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297520/)).Virginia Heckert, J. Paul Getty Museum, Department of Photographs 2021