Signed; Ferdinando Scianna - Remembered Sicily - 2001

Exceptionally signed on the title page by Ferdinando Scianna (born 1943), a unique copy, impossible to find signed and practically impossible to find online today unsigned. 160 pages and approximately one hundred color photographs, many printed across double-page spreads, with location captions and texts in Italian by the writer Dacia Maraini. Sturdy publisher’s hardcover binding with a red cloth spine, illustrated cover. In excellent condition, practically as new.

Ferdinando Scianna presents us with a range of subjects: the iconic landscapes of his native Sicily; scenes of the everyday lives of its inhabitants, sometimes in the immediate vicinity of archaeological sites; the richness of its agriculture (but also the waste represented by oranges destroyed and thrown away); the work of charcoal burners in the forest; the destruction caused by the Second World War, with ruins still standing; the ecological ugliness of the cementification of the countryside; skeletons preserved in the catacombs; volcanic eruptions; religious festivals, etc.

This book was published in 2001, drawing on Ferdinando Scianna’s photographic archives of his native region, Sicily. Some of these photographs had been printed in a small format in 1984 in a book aimed more at tourists, published by Editions Mondadori. Here, the large format, with double-page photographs measuring 34 by 48 cm and high-quality printing, allows their artistic quality to be better appreciated.

Ferdinando Scianna was born in 1943 in Bagheria, near Palermo, Sicily. He began photographing his native Sicily at a very young age, and after studying philosophy and art history, he immediately published a book, « Feste Religiose in Sicilia », in which his photographs were accompanied by text from the celebrated writer Leonardo Sciascia. The book was an immediate success and is recognized as an important photobook; it is listed in Photobook by Parr & Badger (volume 3, page 111). In 1967, Ferdinando Scianna moved to Milan, where he began working for the weekly magazine L'Europeo as a photographer and journalist. In the 1970s, he became the magazine’s correspondent in Paris. During these years in Paris, Ferdinando Scianna became friends with Henri Cartier-Bresson, and in 1982 he joined the Magnum Photos agency. By chance, he also became a fashion photographer for Dolce & Gabbana, and the book Marpessa, which grew out of this first experience, is now highly sought after. Throughout these years, Ferdinando Scianna traveled extensively around the world as a journalist and later as an internationally renowned photographer, but his photographic work always remained faithful to Sicily, which he photographed relentlessly.

Copy in excellent condition, practically as new (see photo). A book from my personal collection, carefully preserved in its original condition. Shipped with protective reinforced packaging and guaranteed international postal tracking.

1.6 kg excluding packaging