Paolo Monti (1908-1982) was one of the most important
Italian photographers of the twentieth century. In 1948 in Venice, where he had moved to work as an industrial manager after the war, he founded the photography association "La Gondola", which was to become the driving force behind a profound renewal of the Italian photographic language in post-war Italy. In 1953 he relocated to Milan, where he definitively embraced photography professionally and began to work fro the Triennale, architectural studios (BBPR, Gio Ponti, Albini and
Scarpa), museums (Castello Sforzesco), publishers (Garzanti and Einaudi) and for artists (
Baj, Crippa, Dove,
Fontana, Capogrossi and Pomodoro). He later focused on documenting the landscape, architecture and historical-artistic heritage, combining his intense professional activity, including criticism and curatorship, with major experimental production (photograms, chemigrams and color photography), interfacing with key elements of contemporary artistic production.
