Fashion, fighting and feral dogs – the photography of Ferdinando Scianna
From glamorous models to burned out cars, photographer Ferdinando Scianna has spent half a century capturing the extremes of the world around him
Martin Scorsese, 1990
The director photographed in his family home – part of a series of images of him holding family photos. Journey, Story, Memory: Ferdinando Scianna Restrospective at Tre Oci, Venice explores 50 years of the Sicilian photographer’s career.Parigi Fashion show, Paris, 1989
After having been a documentary photographer, Scianna began taking fashion photographs in 1987.Marpessa, Caltagirone, 1987
This image is from Dolce and Gabbana’s 1987 ad campaign and stars the model Marpessa Henni, known as the Catwalk Contessa.Backstage at Moschino fashion show, 1987
Scianna met Henri Cartier-Bresson and, in 1982, he joined Magnum Photos. He once said: ‘As a photographer I consider myself a reporter. And my fundamental reference is that of my master par excellence, Henri Cartier Bresson, for whom the photographer must aspire to be an invisible witness, who never intervenes to modify the world.’Celia Forner, Sevilla, 1988
A fashion shoot with the model. Scianna said: ‘I have always made a clear distinction between the images found and those constructed.’Guardian Angels in the subway, New York, 1985
Scianna once said: ‘A photograph is not created by a photographer. What they do is open a little window and capture it. The world then writes itself on the film. The act of the photographer is closer to reading than it is to writing. They are the readers of the world.’Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge in the fog, New York, 1986
Scianna was a writer as well as a photographer. He worked on the Italian magazine L’Europeo, first as a photographer, then from 1973 as a journalist. He also wrote on politics for Le Monde Diplomatique and on literature and photography for La Quinzaine Littéraire.Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia, Racalmuto, Sicily, 1964
Scianna started taking photographs in the 1960s. Sciascia accidentally walked through the frame of this shot and it became the first of many collaborations with famous writers, later including Jorge Luis Borges.Good Friday mystery procession, Ciminna, Sicily, 1964
Scianna photographed the traditions of his native Sicily and spent many years documenting the culture of the island.El Djem, Tunisia 1969
During his long career in art, Scianna has touched on many themes Рcurrent affairs, war, travel, popular religion. His 1999 exhibition Ni̱os del Mundo displayed his s images of children from around the world.Village of Kami, Bolivia, 1986
A sick child in a health care centre. Located in the Andes, Kami was founded in 1908 as a mining villageVaranasi, India, 1972
A feral dog chases its tail. Interviewed in 2013, Scianna said: ‘Curiosity is, in itself, a form of adventure.’
