We All Think of Ouselves As One Single Person but It's Not True
Edited by Roberto Dulio and Maria Sica
This book explores the figure of Ghitta Carell (1899–1972), a Hungarian-born photographer who was naturalized Italian. Ghitta was born into a Jewish family of humble origins; at a very young age she moved to Italy, where she quickly became a very sought-after portrait photographer. Intellectuals, actors, generals, and political leaders posed in her studio in Rome, as well as famous women and members of royalty and the middle class.
Her black-and-white pictures were taken with a view camera: Ghitta crafted her photographs with mastery and delicacy, and thus created luminous and soft images, intervening through subtraction by removing the most superficial layers. This is how she achieved a kind of unmasking, thanks to which she restored not only the face but first and foremost the soul of those photographed. Ghitta Carell died in Haifa, Israel, leaving behind more than 50,000 plates now mostly dispersed.
Roberto Dulio is an Associate Professor of the History of Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano – DABC. He deals with modern and contemporary architectural culture and its relationship to art and photography. He has curated various exhibitions, including Gli architetti di Ghitta Carell, Politecnico di Milano; Mantua: Madonna della Vittoria, 2014; and Tra le due guerre; gli architetti di Ghitta Carell, Milan: Fondazione Portaluppi, 2013. He has published numerous essays and books, including Un ritratto mondano. Fotografie di Ghitta Carell (2013); Introduzione a Bruno Zevi (2008); and Giovanni Michelucci 1891-1990 (with Claudia Conforti and Marzia Marandola, 2006).
Maria Sica is a member of the Cultural Promotion Department of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. She served as Attaché at the Institute of Culture in Moscow from 2007 to 2013 and as Director at the Institute of Culture in Zagreb from 2013 to 2016. In 2017 she worked at the Italian National Commission for UNESCO. From 2018 to 2021 she directed the Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm as well as the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv until December 2023. In 2021 she edited Enchanting Architecture. The Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm by Gio Ponti (5 Continents Editions).
