Santi Visalli at 90: Una Storia @ Santa Barbara Museum of Art

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Santi Visalli at 90: Una Storia @ Santa Barbara Museum of Art

December 19th, 2021 by fstop

From left to right: Santi Visalli, Grace Bumbry in “Cavalleria Rusticana” at the Metropolitan Opera, 1970;
Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward), 1966; Federico Fellini directing “Casanova” in Rome #2, 1975.
All inkjet prints, Courtesy the Artist.

Santi Visalli at 90: Una Storia
December 19, 2021 – March 13, 2022

“Born in 1932 and raised in Messina, Sicily, Santa Barbara resident Santi Visalli traveled with a camera for three years across the globe before settling in New York during the late 1950s. His aim was to become a successful photographer on the international stage. With an astute eye, tenacious energy, and patient skill, Visalli forged an extraordinary career that saw him photographing countless major world figures and important sites and cities for over five decades.

This select exhibition of 29 photographs focuses on a specific area of Visalli’s art: perceptive portraits of well-known figures in the 1960s and 70s worlds of film, literature, art, music, and popular culture. Ranging from the delightfully spontaneous and joyous to the more posed and quiet, all of Visalli’s portraits relate a storia, an Italian word meaning many things: tale, story, and history. Tactful yet honest, Visalli captures his subjects with a respectful distance that nonetheless allows the unique sense of these renowned personalities to emerge on their own terms.”

Santa Barbara Museum of Art
1130 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA.

Location: California Type: Exhibition

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