MASSIMO PIERSANTI AND THE ARCHIVIO INCONTRI INTERNAZIONALI D'ARTE

Massimo Piersanti (Rome *1937) photographed the important exhibition of contemporary Italian art 'Vitalità del negativo nell'arte italiana 1960-70' in 1971 and was appointed official photographer of the Incontri Internazionali d'Arte, an association that provided space for all new forms of contemporary art and cultural production in Rome's Palazzo Taverna. His work offers a rich photographic archive on the Roman, Italian and broader international avant-garde of the 1970s. One of the highlights is a series of photographs of the exhibition 'Contemporanea' (1973/1974) organized by the Incontri.

Inspired by activities of the BHMPI research initiative 'Rome Contemporary', in 2021 the Photographic Collection began to digitize and catalog parts of Piersanti's personal archive as well as the Fondo Archivio Incontri Internazionali d'Arte, managed by the Museo MAXXI. The goal is to make this highly interesting material, which is important for understanding the art scene of the time, available to the research community. It consists of a total of 450 images, mostly photographic prints, but also negatives and transparencies.