Inauguration: April 27, 2019

Curated by Alessandra Dragoni

The exhibition offers a selection of photographs from a first and partial survey of the Arrigo Dolcin I collection, acquired by the Classense Library Institution of Ravenna.
Born in 1908, starting from the end of the 40s and until the early 70s, Arrigo Dolcini works as a photographer mainly in Marina di Ravenna, in Romagna, in a studio that is also a film shop: Foto Nettuno . From there he moves to photograph weddings, baptisms, birthdays, a bit of news but above all the beach of Marina di Ravenna, where people love to be portrayed on the shore. The importance of the conservation of this material lies in its documentary connotation, which today appears clear to us.

The curator, Alessandra Dragoni , a photographer in turn, underlines the importance of this aspect, siding with the photographer, trying to understand his gaze and method, finally enhancing what has emerged to be the main quality of Dolcini, namely the inclination to the human, which is explicitly manifested in the portrait, both in the studio and outdoors. Those on display are images that refer us to contemporary or just previous photography classics, revisited if necessary, in a more naive but always compelling style. You can still feel the taste of the novelty of photography, in Dolcini's work, a naturalness that leaves you surprised emerges in the portraits.

The Dolcini collection was acquired by the Library in 2007. The consistency is estimated at around 25,000 images.