Arturo Bragaglia

About the Artist

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  Anton Giulio Bragaglia. The Bow. 1911. Gelatin silver print, 6 11/16 x 4 11/16" (17 x 11.9 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  Arturo Bragaglia began his career making photographs in collaboration with his older brother Anton Giulio Bragaglia. His artistic training was developed as an assistant, alongside his brothers, in his father Francesco Bragaglia’s film production company in Rome. With the publication of his brother Anton Giulio Bragaglia’s book Fotodinamismo futurista (Futurist photodynamism), in 1911, Arturo began collaborating with his brother on photographic experiments, work he continued until 1932, after Anton Giulio’s focus had shifted to cinema. In 1914 Arturo established his own studio. From 1922 until 1928 he was the official photographer of his brothers’ establishment, the Teatro degli Indipendenti, Rome. In 1925, he co-organized the Mostra fotografica italiana (Italian photography exhibition) in Genoa and became a national adviser of the Federazione dei Fotografi. From 1933 on he was increasingly involved in cinema, as the photographic director at Cinecittà, Rome, and later as a screenwriter and actor in a number of major productions, such as René Clair’s 1950 film La Beauté du diable (Beauty and the Devil) and Vittorio De Sica’s 1951 Miracolo a Milano (Miracle in Milan). After World War II he continued to work as a photographer, photojournalist, and screenwriter for major directors. In 1942 the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome appointed him a professor of photography.

  —Mitra Abbaspour

Artist Chronology

Walther Photographs

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  The Smoker–The Match–The Cigarette