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Hutzel (Max) Photographs of Art and Architecture in Italy
86.P.8
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Foto arte minore: Max Hutzel photographs of art and architecture in Italy
Creator:
Hutzel, Max
Creator:
Sigismondi, Roberto
Identifier/Call Number: 86.P.8
Physical Description:
915 boxes
(circa 67,275 black-and-white photographic prints, circa 86,400 black-and-white negatives)
Date (inclusive): 1960-1990
Abstract: This collection contains thorough photographic documentation by Max Hutzel of art
and architecture in Italy ranging in date from Antiquity to late Baroque. Included are photographs of secular buildings, museum
holdings, ancient ruins,
and religious institutions covering a broad range of artistic forms and styles, including architecture, paintings, frescoes,
sculpture, manuscripts,
metalwork and other minor arts. The regions most heavily represented are: the Abruzzi, Lazio (including Rome), the Marches,
and Umbria.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here
for the
access policy .
Language of Material:
English .
Scope and Content of Collection
Max Hutzel's "Foto arte minore" project comprises thorough photographic documentation of art historical development in Italy
up to the 18th century,
including objects of the Etruscans and the Romans, as well as early Medieval, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque
monuments. Consonant with
Hutzel's belief that throughout Italy there are minor artistic centers that deserve attention, sites depicted are frequently
obscure and previously
undocumented. Hutzel's work is typified by a feeling for place that goes beyond the purely documentary. The collection contains
more than 67,000
black-and-white prints and approximately 86,400 black-and-white negatives. Because Hutzel carefully cropped his images for
printing, the prints more
accurately represent his style than the negatives.
Included is thorough interior and exterior documentation of secular buildings, museum holdings, ancient ruins, and religious
institutions covering a
broad range of artistic forms and styles, including architecture, painting, frescoes, sculpture, manuscripts, metalwork and
other minor arts, ranging in
date from Antiquity to late Baroque. The regions most heavily represented are: the Abruzzi, Lazio (including Rome), the Marches,
and Umbria. Additional
photos cover sites in: Basilicata, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Guilia, Lombardy, Piedmont, Puglia, Sardinia,
Tuscany, and Veneto.
Also included are circa 825 photographs of medieval buildings and art in Campania, in the ancient region called "Campi Flegrei,"
made in 1990 by
Roberto Sigismondi, Hutzel's long-time assistant (some 800 additional images from this campaign have been removed and interfiled
in the Antiquities
section of the Getty Research Institute's Photo Archive). Missing from this collection are many Hutzel photographs that were
separated in the 1980s and
1990s and integrated into the core collections of the Photo Archive.
Photographs are generally accompanied by typed lists that include the names of the sites and often additional information
such as narrative
descriptions, church dedications, locations of photographed details, label information for museum objects, and information
provided to Hutzel by local
inhabitants. Hutzel frequently added his own personal commentary regarding the condition of many sites.
The photographic prints and accompanying lists have been digitized and the images are available online.
Click here to view all digital images or see the container list for links to
images of specific subjects.
A number of Hutzel photographs and approximately 800 photographs by Hutzel's assistant, Roberto Sigismondi, were removed from
this collection and
interfiled with the core collection of the repository's Photo Archive.
German-born photographer and scholar Max Hutzel (1911-1988) photographed in Italy from the early 1960s until the late 1980s,
resulting in a vast body
of photographs that he referred to as "Foto arte minore." Over the years he amassed a collection of about one million negatives
and sold his photographs
to individual scholars for publication and to institutions such as the Biblioteca Herziana, the National Gallery in Washington,
and the Kunsthistorische
Institut in Florence. He used the revenue from these sales, in addition to some financial support he received from his brother
in Germany, to continue
his work until his death.
Hutzel studied printmaking and graphics in Stuttgart. Impressed by Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus School, he developed a deep
interest in photography
and studied with Paul Wolff. After World War II, he settled in Italy and by the beginning of the 1960's, he had devoted himself
to the photographic
documentation of art and architecture. Applying techniques and aesthetic solutions he learned from the Bauhaus movement, Hutzel's
approach went beyond
the purely documentary. His photography represented his artistic interpretation of Italian art and his sense of being in a
specific place. He compared
himself to the European scholars and researchers who traveled through Italy drawing in their notebooks as they studied the
history and archeological
artifacts of the region.
Hutzel comprehensively documented lesser known monuments, attempting to include everything that is connected with art historical
development in Italy
up to the 18th century: architecture, sculpture, wall painting, panel painting, museum objects and religious artifacts from
the Etruscan and Roman
civilizations and the early Medieval, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods. In order to document architecture
within its topographical
context, he often photographed general and panoramic views of towns seen from afar, streets, and clusters of buildings. He
also provided a glimpse of
the social context by sometimes including residents, passersby, and vehicles.
Arranged into 17 series: Series I. Abruzzo; Series II. Basilicata; Series III. Campania; Series IV. Emilia-Romagna; Series
V. Friuli-Venezia Giulia;
Series VI. Lazio; Series VII. Lombardia; Series VIII. Marches; Series IX. Molise; Series X. Piedmont; Series XI. Puglia; Series
XII. Republic of San
Marino; Series XIII. Sardinia; Series XIV. Tuscany; Series XV. Umbria; Series XVI. Veneto; Series XVII. Negatives.
Open for use by qualified researchers. For further information, consult the
Guide to the Photo Archive and Database .
Contact
Library Reproductions and
Permissions
.
The photographic prints and accompanying lists have been digitized and made available online.
Click here to view all digital images or click the links in the container list
to see digital images of specific subjects.
Foto arte minore: Max Hutzel photographs of art and architecture in Italy, 1960-1990. The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no.
86.P.8.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa86p8
A preliminary box list was created by Martha Steele in 2008. In 2011 Laney McGlohon transformed the box list into an EAD finding
aid and incorporated
metadata from the GRI's Photo Archive Database, and in 2012 she added links to the digital collection. Andra Darlington completed
the finding aid in
2012, adapting text by Tracey Schuster for the collection notes.
The Photo Archive Database also provides access to this collection.
Connect to the Photo Archive Database.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Architecture, Ancient -- Italy
Streets -- Italy
Architecture, Medieval -- Italy
Architecture, Baroque -- Italy
Architecture -- Italy
Architecture, Renaissance -- Italy
Art -- Italy
Art, Italian
Black-and-white prints (photographs)
Black-and-white negatives
Decorative arts -- Italy
Cities and towns -- Italy
Sculpture, Italian
Painting, Italian