Franco Fontana (born 9 December 1933) is an Italian

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

. He is best known for his abstract color landscapes.

Biography

Franco Fontana was born in 1933 in

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

. He started taking photographs in the 1950s when he was working as a decorator in a furniture showroom.Colombo, Cesare., Bignardi, Irene, Zannier, Italo, and Fratelli Alinari. Museo Di Storia Della Fotografia. Italy, the One and Only : A Century of Photography, 1900-2000 / Curated by Cesare Colombo ; Texts, Irene Bignardi, Cesare Colombo, Italo Zannier ; with the Collaboration of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central Office of Cultural Affairs. Firenze: Alinari, 1998. Print. In 1961 he joined a local amateur club in Modena. The experience would be a turning point in his career, and Fontana went on to have his first solo exhibition in 1965 at the Società Fotografica Subalpina, Turin and at the Galleria della Sala di Cultura in Modena in 1968. Since then he has participated in more than 400 group and solo exhibitions. Fontana has photographed for advertising campaigns for brands such as

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (; ; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the initialism FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estate services and other services in ...

, Snam,

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury elite fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as well as '' haute couture'' under it ...

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

, Robe di Kappa,

Swissair Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...

, and has been a magazine photographer for publications including ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

,'' ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

,'' ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' (USA and France), '' Venerdì di Repubblica,'' ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

'', and with the ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Fontana's first book, ''Skyline,'' was published in 1978 in France by Contrejour and in Italy by Punto e Virgola with a text by

Helmut Gernsheim Helmut Erich Robert Kuno Gernsheim (1 March 1913 – 20 July 1995) was a historian of History of photography, photography, a Collecting, collector and a photographer. Early life and education Born in Munich, Germany, he was the third son of the ...

. Fontana is the art director of the Toscana Fotofestival. He has received numerous awards, such as the 1989 Tokyo Photographer Society of Japan - The 150 Years of Photography - Photographer Award.

Style and critical reception

Fontana is especially interested in the interplay of colors. His early innovations in color photography in the 1960s were stylistically disruptive. According to art critic Giuliana Scimé, Fontana "destroyed all the structures, practices, and technical choices within the Italian tradition." Fontana uses

35mm 35 mm may refer to: Film * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM, a "musical exhibition" by Ryan Scott Oliver that features music ...

cameras, and as noted by Iwan Zahar, deploys distant viewpoints with telephoto lenses to flatten contours in a landscape of crops and fields into bands of intense, saturated colour. This is an effect that Franco Lefèvre has described as 'dialectical landscapism'. Of his use of colour in his 2019 retrospective exhibition ''Sintesi'' ('Synthesis') at Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, curator Diana Baldon has observed;

“His bold geometric compositions are characterised by shimmering colours, level perspectives and a geometric-formalist and minimal language...By adopting this approach during the 1960s, Fontana injected a new vitality into the field of creative colour photography for then multicolour was not in fashion in art photography...The way Fontana shoots, dematerialises the objects photographed, which loose three-dimensionality and realism to become part of an abstract drawing”.

Aside from the rural landscape Fontana has applied his graphic sensibility to other subjects: city architecture, portraiture, fashion, still-life and the nude. Fontana's photographs have also been used as album cover art for records produced by the

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

jazz label.

Permanent collections

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

, Sydney *

George Eastman Museum The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...

, Rochester, New York *

The Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

Kemper Art Museum The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is an art museum located on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, within the university's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Founded in 1881 as the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts, it w ...

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

Amon Carter Museum of American Art The Amon Carter Museum of American Art (also known as the Carter) is located in Fort Worth, Texas, in the city's cultural district. The museum's permanent collection features paintings, photography, sculpture, and works on paper by leading arti ...

Rose Art Museum The Rose Art Museum, founded in 1961, is a part of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. Named after benefactors Edward and Bertha Rose, it offers temporary exhibitions, and it displays and houses works of art from its permanent co ...

* Richard M. Ross Art Museum *

Williams College Museum of Art The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is a college-affiliated art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is located on the Williams College campus, close to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Clark Art Institu ...

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the List of largest art museums, largest ar ...

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...

*National Museum, Beijing *

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Tokyo Photographic Art Museum The is an art museum concentrating on photography. As the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, it was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo. The museum also ...

* Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Latina * Turin Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art *

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) is one of the largest university art museums in the United States, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with . Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alu ...

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London

Publications

*''Modena una città'', text by Pier Paolo Preti, Ruggeri, Modena 1970 *''Terra da leggere'', text by Pier Paolo Preti, IKS editrice, Modena 1974 *''Bologna, Il volto della città'', text by Pier Luigi Cervellati, Ricardo Franco Levi Editore, Modena 1975 *''Laggiù gli uomini'', text by

Enzo Biagi Enzo Biagi (; 9 August 1920 – 6 November 2007) was an Italian journalist, writer and former partisan. Life and career Biagi was born in Lizzano in Belvedere, and began his career as a journalist in Bologna. In 1952, he worked on the screenpl ...

, Ricardo Franco Levi Editore, Modena 1976 *''Sky-line'', text by

, Punto e Virgola, Modena e Contrejour, Paris 1978 *''Presenze veneziane'', text by

Achille Bonito Oliva Achille Bonito Oliva (born 1939) is an Italian art critic and historian of contemporary art. Since 1968 he has taught history of contemporary art at La Sapienza, the university of Rome. He has written extensively on contemporary art and contemp ...

e Angelo Schwarz, Maurizio Rossi Editore, Modena 1979 *''Paesaggio urbano'', text by Angelo Schwarz, Selezione d’Immagini, Milan 1980 *''Presenza-Assenza'', text by Giuliana Scimé, Selezione d’Immagini, Milan 1982 *''I grandi fotografi'', text by Achille Bonito Oliva e Giuliana Scimé, Fabbri Editori, Milan 1983 *''Full Color'', text by Guy Mandery, Contrejour, Paris 1983 *''I primi dieci ristoranti e alberghi d’Italia'', texts by

Giovanni Agnelli Giovanni Agnelli (13 August 1866 – 16 December 1945) was an Italian industrialist and principal founder of Fiat S.p.A., established in 1899. Under his leadership, Fiat became a cornerstone of Italy's automotive industry, significantly contr ...

e Giovanni Nuvoletti, La chiave d’oro Editrice, Modena 1983 *''Los Grandes Fotografos'', Ediciones Orbis, Barcelona 1983 *''Capire domani 1933-1983'', Edizione Stet, Florence 1983 *''Meisterfotos Gestalten'', text by Pier Paolo Preti, Verlag Laterna Magica, Munich 1983 *''Piscina'', Diapress, Milan 1984 *''EU 42'', text by

Paolo Portoghesi Paolo Portoghesi (2 November 1931 – 30 May 2023) was an Italian architect, theorist, historian, and professor of architecture at the Sapienza University of Rome. He was president of the architectural section of the Venice Biennale (1979–1992) ...

, Rondanini, Rome 1984 *''Franco Fontana'', Nippon Geijutsu, Tokyo 1984 *''I dogi della moda'', Associazione Comitato Veneziamoda, 1984 *''Disney World Epcot Center'', text by Roy Disney, Edizioni Panini, Modena 1986 *''Lui lavora lì'', text by Liborio Termine, Edizioni Panini, Modena 1986 *''Università Oggi'', Edizione Opere Universitarie, Rome, 1986 *''San Marino e il gioco delle apparenze'', text by

Sergio Zavoli Sergio Wolmar Zavoli (21 September 1923 – 4 August 2020) was an Italian Sports journalism, sports and Documentary film, documentary journalist and politician. Born in Ravenna and raised in Rimini, Zavoli joined RAI, Italy's state broadcaster, ...

, Cassa di Risparmio di RSM,

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

, 1986 *''Imola Imola'', text by Aureliano Bassani, Edizioni Cerim, Imola, 1987 *''Franco Fontana'', text by Giuliana Scimé, Umberto Allemandi Editore, Turin, 1987 *''Franco Fontana'', Rebecchi, Modena, 1988 *''Il corpo scoperto''. Il nudo in fotografia, text by Daniela Palazzoli, Idea Books, Milan 1988 *''L’universo nel piatto'', Rebecchi, Modena, 1989 *''I nudi di Franco Fontana in Polaroid'', text by Liborio Termine, Aleph, Turin, 1989 *''Invito a Bologna'', text by Athos Vianelli, Magnus, Udine 1989 *''Il carnevale di Viareggio'', text by

Alberto Bevilacqua Alberto Bevilacqua (27 June 1934 – 9 September 2013) was an Italian writer and filmmaker. Leonardo Sciascia, an Italian writer and politician, who read Bevilacqua's first collection of stories, ''The Dust on the Grass'' (1955), was impressed ...

, Mondadori Arte, Milan, 1989 *''Kaleidoscope'', text by

Christian Caujolle Christian Caujolle, born February 26, 1953, in Sissonne, is a French journalist, photo agent, curator and photographer. He was one of the founders and the artistic director of the Agence VU, as well as the artistic director of the Galerie VU crea ...

e Franco Lefèvre, Edizioni Arte, Udine, 1990 *''Franco Fontana è venuto una volta a Torino e l’ha vista così'', Rebecchi, Modena, 1990 *''Sakura, sogni paralleli,'' Cassa di Risparmi di Vignola, 1990 *''40 immagine inedite di Franco Fontana'', text by Mauro Corradini e Giandomenico Semeraro, Edizione del Museo Ken Damy, Brescia, 1990 *''Modena Effetto Notte'', Graphis, Bologna, 1990 *''Viaggio in Sicilia'', Graphis, Bologna, 1992 *''Modena effetto notte'', Graphis, Bologna, 1992 *''Universo nel piatto 2'', Graphis, Bologna, 1993 *''Aemilia'', text by Candido Bonvicini, Edizioni Biblos, Padua 1993 *''Landscape moments'', Rebecchi, Modena, 1994 *''Franco Fontana'', text by Flaminio Gualdoni, Federico Motta Editore, Milan, 1994 *''Le ricette erotiche'', text by G. Bolognesi, Graphis, Bologna, 1995 *''Franco Fontana Landscape'', edizione limitata a cento copie, Ken Damy Polimedia, Brescia, 1996 *''100 fiori, simboli, messaggi di libertà'', text by Lello Piazza, Mondadori, Milan, 1997 *''Janua Urbis'', A. Pizzi, 1997 *''Polaroid'', text by

Francesco Guccini Francesco Guccini (; born 14 June 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter, actor, and writer. During the five decades of his music career he has recorded 16 studio albums and collections, and 6 live albums. He is also a writer, having published ...

, Motta Fotografia, Milan, 1997 *''Modena ieri e oggi'', text by Michele Smargiassi, Associazione Giuseppe Panini, Modena, 1998 *''Franco Fontana antologica'', text by Giorgio Cortenova e Walter Guadagnini, Leonardo Arte, Milan, 2000 *''Sorpresi nella luce americana'', text by

Giampiero Mughini Giampiero Mughini (born 16 April 1941) is an Italian essayist, journalist and television personality. Life and career Born in Catania, Mughini started his career founding in his hometown the leftist political and cultural magazine ''Giovane Cr ...

, Federico Motta Editore, Milan, 2000 *''Emerging Bodies Collezione Polaroid'', Edizioni Stemmle, Zurich, 2000 *''Emilia Romagna da gustare'', text by Antonio Piccinardi, Giorgio Mondadori Editore, Milan, 2000 *''Il paesaggio che verrà'', text by

Piero Angela Piero Domenico Angela (; 22 December 1928 – 13 August 2022) was an Italian Science journalism, science journalist, television host, and Essay, essayist, with a brief early professional career also as a jazz musician and pianist. He started ...

e Giuseppe Pederiali, Panini, Modena 2000 *''Historic Route 66'', with

Valerio Massimo Manfredi Valerio Massimo Manfredi (born 8 March 1943) is an Italian historian, writer, essayist, archaeologist and journalist. Biography He was born in Piumazzo di Castelfranco Emilia province of Modena and, after getting a degree in Classical Arts at ...

, Skira, Milan, 2002 *''Franco Fontana, a cura di Giovanna Calvenzi'', testo di Massimo Mussini, Federico Motta Editore, Milan, 2003 *''Paesaggio'', with Mario Giacomelli, text by

Federico Zeri Federico Zeri (12 August 1921 – 5 October 1998) was an Italian art historian specialised in Italian Renaissance painting. He wrote for the Italian newspaper ''La Stampa'', and was a well known television-personality in Italy. Zeri was born in ...

, Edizioni Gribaudo, Asti, 2003 *''Antiche penombre in controluce'', Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, Modena, 2003 *''Retrospettiva'', text by Allan D. Coleman e Giuliana Scimé, Edizioni Logos, Modena, 2003 *''Appia Regina viarum'', text by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Trnsmec, 2003 *''Paesaggi con Andrea Micheli Galleria degli animali'', text by Renato Barilli e

Giorgio Celli Giorgio Celli (16 July 1935 – 11 June 2011) was an Italian entomologist, ecologist, professor, writer, and politician. Early life Celli was born in Verona. After receiving his degree in agronomical sciences in 1959, Celli taught at the ...

, Mazzotta Editore, Milan, 2005 *''Appunti siciliani'', text by Liborio Termine e

Gianni Riotta Gianni Riotta (born 12 January 1954 in Palermo, Italy) is an Italian journalist, a regular contributor for the daily newspaper La Stampa and a former editor-in-chief of the financial newspaper ''Il Sole 24 Ore'', Rai 3 and the news bulletin TG1 ...

, Federico Motta Editore, Milan, 2006 *''La via Emilia'', text by Francesco Guccini e Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Atlante, Bazzano, 2006 *''Il tempo fissato''. Pietre e colori a Morgantina, text by

Vincenzo Consolo Vincenzo Consolo (18 February 1933 – 21 January 2012) was an Italian writer. Consolo was born in Sant'Agata di Militello but resided in Milan from 1969 until his death. He began his literary career in 1963, but gained wider attention in 197 ...

e Liborio Termine, Ed. Università Kore, 2006 *''Alassio'', Comune di Alassio, 2008 *''Fabbriche di sassi'', with Luigi Ottani, Anna Prandi, Edizioni Artestampa, Modena, 2008 *''Modena effetto notte, reloaded'', Ed. italiana e inglese, Edizioni Artestampa, Modena, 2009 *''Paesaggi a confronto'', Edizioni Artestampa, Modena, 2010 *''Donne'', Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, Modena, 2010 *''Grandi autori, Fotografia contemporanea'', edited by Claudio Pastrone, Fiaf, Turin, 2011 *''L’anima un paesaggio interiore'', text by

Giorgio Faletti Giorgio Faletti (; 25 November 1950 – 4 July 2014) was an Italian writer, musician, actor and comedian. Born in Asti, Piedmont, he lived on Elba Island. His books have been translated into 25 languages and published with great success in Europ ...

e Liborio Termine, 24 Ore Cultura, Gruppo 24 Ore, Milan, 2011 *''Skyline'', texts by Claude Nori and Francesco Zanot, Contrasto due, Rome, 2013 *''Franco Fontana. A life of photos'', Italian and English editions, Postcart, Rome, 2013 *''Bellezze Disarmoniche'', Artestampa, 2014 *''Franco Fontana - FULL COLOR'', Ediz. Marsilio, Venice, 2014 *''Vita Nova'', Ediz. Sabrina Raffaghello, 2014 *''Vista d'Autore'', Canon-EXPO, 2015 *''Terra Alma et Amara'', 100 numbered copies signed with a poem by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, 2015 *''La Fotografia Creativa'', Mondadori, Milan *''Italia a Scatti Il Racconto di Grandi Fotografi'', Electa, Milan

References

External links

Fontana's official website, ItalyPhotos by Fontana
from Robert Klein gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, Franco 20th-century Italian photographers 20th-century Italian male artists Italian contemporary artists Living people 1933 births Artists from Modena 21st-century Italian photographers 21st-century Italian male artists Landscape photographers