Struan Gray , Jan 10, 2003; 04:17 a.m.
Can anyone tell me anything about an Italian photographer
called Filippo Miza who worked in Libya in the 1920s and 30s?
I recently bought a book of photographs from the collections of
the Italian Geographical Society. My main interest was the
photographs of the Karakoram by Sella and others, as well as
the large number of Sullivan Western photos and polar
exploration shots.
However, among the more ethographic photographs from Africa
and the Far east, Miza's really stood out, to the extent that by the
end of book I could spot them without reading the caption. It's
hard to say why, but whereas the other photographers largely
conformed to conventions of C19th travel paintings and
watercolours, Miza seems ahead of his time, with more
interesting composition and that sense of being simultaneously
timeless and fleeting that characterises many of my favourite
photographs. Of photographers in the Canon, Alvarez Bravo's
probably come closest for me, not for content, but for feel.
I have done the obvious web searches in English, but my Italian
is restricted to cooking and musical terms, so language-specific
searches have been interesting but uninformative. I would
appreciate any pointers to more information about Miza's life and
work, and any books or monographs that might be out there.
Tony Galt , Jan 10, 2003; 09:15 a.m.
Where have you found Italian language sources about this person on the Internet. My google search on the name came up empty. I am fluent in Italian and your post made me curious.
Struan Gray , Jan 10, 2003; 09:45 a.m.
I should have been more clear: I haven't turned up anything on
the web at all, in any language. Some of my guesses at suitable
words in Italian generated interesting links, but none of them
related to Miza.
The book I have is a French translation of the Italian original. It is
called something like "One hundred years of exploration around
the world", and I picked it up among the pre-Christmas
pile-em-high stacks at - get this - the Carrefour hypermarket in
Caen. If there's interest I can summarise what info it has and
post the ISBN, but probably not until Monday.
Struan Gray , Jan 13, 2003; 03:48 a.m.
<p>It looks like I've drawn a blank, at least for now. For the
archives, and for anyone reading this who is interested in early
exploration photography, here are the nitty gritty details of the
book I have:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Title: "Cent ans d'expéditions autour du monde"</br>
Subtitle: "Les archives photographiques de la Societé
géographique italienne"</p>
<p>Author: Maria Mancini</br>
French Translation: Christine Favart</p>
<p>Pub: Éditions Place des Victoires, 2002</br>
ISBN 2-84459-040-3</p>
<p>Italian Copyright: Instituto Geografico De Agostini,
Novare</p>
</blockquote>
<p>amazon.fr has it if you search on the ISBN. It's a large, well
printed and bound book with excellent reproductions of even the
early photographs. In addition to the fruits of the obvious Italian
connections with the Karakorum and East and North Africa, there
are a large number of Sullivan plates from the Colorado basin,
as well as fascinating early images of Ankor Wat and Cairo, a
few photos from Scott's first Antarctic voyage, and a slightly
bizarre last chapter showing ladies in long skirts and big hats
tripping lightly along the paths and walkways of the Blue
Mountains in Australia. Recommended.</p>
<p>The bibliography says that Muzi himself published 21
photographs 'around 1934' under the title "Aspetti geografici
della Tripolitania". It doesn't say if that is a book or a portfolio.
Poor little me, I'll just have to go to Rome and do some digging
in the archives.</p>
Arne Croell , Jan 13, 2003; 10:27 a.m.
Struan Gray , Jan 14, 2003; 04:31 p.m.
Thanks Arne. That appears to be the original book. The French
version is half the price though, so if anyone wants ot buy it on a
whim, get thee to amazon.fr.
I'll report back here if and when I ever find anything out.
