Gabriele Basilico's photographs dedicated to Aldo Rossi's architecture, brought together for the first time.
Gabriele Basilico followed Aldo Rossi's work for almost twenty years, accompanying his rise to become a leading figure in international architecture (winning the Pritzker Prize in 1990). His photographs reveal their deep professional affinity: the two shared Milanese origins, degrees from the Politecnico, an interest in social issues and urban transformation, and even more importantly, the moral compass with which they explored the world around them. Growing up in a Milan of which the industrial civilisation was by then in its death throes, they grasped the opportunity to create a new language still mindful of tradition.
The volume brings together Basilico's photographs of Rossi's architecture for the first time, and is enriched by contributions from Chiara Spangaro and Pier Paolo Tamburelli, project notes by Rossi, as well as the writings that they dedicated to each other.
Aldo Rossi (1931–97) was an Italian architect, academic, theorist and designer of international standing. Educated at the Politecnico di Milano, he was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1990, along with numerous other international honours, including the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture in 1991. His publications include The Architecture of the City (1966) and A Scientific Autobiography (1984). From the San Cataldo Cemetery and the Teatro del Mondo to his design work, Rossi's oeuvre has had a profound influence on architectural culture worldwide.
Gabriele Basilico (Milan, 1944-2013) is considered one of the masters of contemporary photography. After graduating in architecture in 1973, he devoted his life to photography. The transformations of the contemporary landscape, the form and identity of the city and the metropolis all served as Gabriele Basilico's privileged fields of research. “Milano ritratti di fabbriche” (1978-80) was the first of his works to focus on outlying industrial areas. In 1984-85 he took part in the Mission Photographique de la DATAR, the project set up by the French government and entrusted to a group of international photographers with the aim of representing the transformation of the national countryside. In 1991 he took part in a mission to Beirut, a city devastated by fifteen years of civil war. Basilico was awarded numerous prizes, and his works are to be found in prestigious public and private collections, both in Italy and around the world. During his career, he published over sixty books of his own works.
