Tullio Locchi, renowned photographer during the First World War and official portraitist to the Queen of Italy, was nicknamed Barbetta (“little beard”) by the King. He was known by all of Florence simply because it seemed he and his camera were everywhere. In 1924, Tullio opened a studio where multiple photographers could work together in a particular humanistic style. From the beginning these photographs occupied a continuum between art and photojournalism: the composition is careful, precise, and yet by definition captured on-the-fly, right in front of the photographer. Mimicking the development of painters and sculptors in Florence for many hundreds of years, the Foto Locchi style was passed down over time from experienced photographers to apprentices as young as 14.
Unfortunately, only two years after forming the studio, Barbetta fell to his death while climbing a tower to capture “the perfect shot”. His colleague Umberto Moscato and young nephew Silvano Corcos picked up the flame, and the family has carried it ever since. Corcos created an alpha-numerical code to catalog every negative, allowing each to be pinned to a specific place and time. Catnip for future curators and viewers.
From 1934 until the late 1990s, large shots of the day’s doings were displayed in the front window of the Foto Locchi studio, changing several times a day. It was the social media of its day, a way to see what was happening hyper-locally—and perhaps glimpse themselves—at a time when newspapers had room for only a few small photos.
Erika Ghilardi, Silvano’s granddaughter, practically grew up in the workshop. She fell in love early with the smell of photographic chemicals and sounds of the photo glazing machine; it all seemed like magic to her. At 23, Erika officially joined Foto Locchi Srl and the Archivio. Today she is the fourth-generation director.
With a degree in sociology, Erika saw that the images her family had conserved were of profound importance to the people and culture of Florence. The existence and prominence of the Archivio today are widely acknowledged to be the result of this one woman’s intense passion. She calls the Archivio her “third child, and the most demanding!”
“This is a fresco of generations of Florentine life. We have not missed any single event since 1934. The art, sport, daily life, important events. But we also see the images as works of art, so it’s not just photojournalism. That’s why it’s very emotional for me. I feel a strong responsibility to take care of this precious resource and honored to be able to give the community back their own memories.”
Erika Ghilardi
Due to its historical and cultural importance, the Archivio Storico Foto Locchi Archive has received official recognition and protection from the Italian Ministry of Culture. There are currently over five million negatives in the archive, 300,000 have been digitized and 24,000 are available online at www.fotolocchi.it. 150 photographs from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s are on display at Villa Bardini through October 18. After seeing the exhibit, you will undoubtedly want to see more.
