This pioneering book offers the first account of the work of the photographers, both official and freelance, who contributed to the forging of Mussolini's image. It departs from the practice of using photographs purely for illustration and places them instead at the centre of the analysis. Throughout the 1930s photographs of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini were chosen with much care by the regime. They were deployed to highlight those physical traits - the piercing eyes, protruding jaw, shaved head - that were meant to evoke the Duce's strength, determination and innate sense of leadership in the mind of his contemporaries. The chapters in this volume explore the photographic image in the socio-political context of the time and shows how it was a significant contributor to the development of Italian mass culture between the two world wars.
Author(s): Alessandra Antola Swan
Series: Alessandra Antola Swan
Edition: 1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 413
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
1 Introduction
Part I Setting the Scene
2 The Photograph as a Source and Agent of History
Debating Mussolini’s Image: Viewing, Reviewing and Documenting
From Illustrations to Objects of Fabrication
Fascist Photography
Intentionality
Physiognomy
Sound and Image
Gender
International Influences
The Research Process
3 Images in Politics Before Mussolini
The Savoys
Garibaldi
D’Annunzio
Performance and Politics
Part II Production
4 The Image Makers of the Duce
On the Problem of Assigning Agency
His Many Photographers
5 The Corporate Image: Istituto Luce
L.U.C.E
Luce Style
Luce Organisation
Luce Abroad
Luce and the Press
Luce Equipment
Luce ‘Favourite’: Spartaco Appetiti
6 The Press-Image: Photojournalists and Agencies
Photojournalism
The Italian Context
Photojournalists
Photo Agencies
Adolfo Porry Pastorel (VEDO)
Vincenzo Carrese (Publifoto)
Tino Petrelli
Censorship
7 The Aesthetic Image: Ghitta Carell
The Studio Photographer
Ghitta Carell
Man of Providence
Condottiero
Modern Allure
Summary
Part III Audiencing
8 The Visual Presence of the Duce
Images as Objects
Biographies
Type ‘Alone’
Type ‘Man of Action’
Type ‘Evoking’
Type ‘Politician’
Type ‘with People’
Type ‘Origins’
Type ‘Soldier’ and ‘Oceanic Crowd’
Type ‘with King’
Book Covers, Posters
Daily Papers: Corriere Della Sera
Periodicals: L’Illustrazione Italiana, La Domenica Del Corriere, Tempo
La Domenica Del Corriere
9 Mussolini’s Early Photographs
Visibility in Context
Press, Power and Politics
Mussolini at 14
On the Frontline
Visual Modes of Communication: The Press, the Piazza, the Trench
The Press
The ‘Piazza’
The Trench
10 Mussolini’s Photogenic Charisma
Charisma
Visual Shorthand
Face
Eyes
Direct Gaze
Close-up
11 The Emotional Appeal
Images as Objects of Cult
The Heroic Body
The Body Unclothed
12 Marketing Mussolini
The Rapid Growth of the Cult in the Mid-1920s
Material Values in a Changing ‘Mosaic’ Society
Advertising and Visual Persuasion in Fascist Italy
Mussolini for Sale
Mussolini’s Direct Marketing: Bollettino Luce
The Versatility of Brand Mussolini
Part IV Modalities
13 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
