FERRARI TESTAROSSA by Franco Fontana - Poster For Sale

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FERRARI TESTAROSSA by Franco Fontana - Poster:
$240.00

Riccione, 1985. An American magazine calls Franco Fontana and commissions a photo feature on the Ferrari Testarossa. Franco Fontana, now eighty five, is one of Italy’s most famous photographers. He was born in the Emilia-Romagna region, and is generally considered a citizen of the world, in spite of never mastering English. He takes up the story: “I wasn’t really a car enthusiast, but for those of us who lived in Modena the Testarossa had always been something of an icon. And so I called Ferrari’s director of marketing and he provided me with a car and a test driver.Together we sped off towards the seaside resort of Riccione. I spent the whole day there snapping the Testarossa in front of the beach huts, but I wasn’t satisfied with the results. Towards sunset, when we were about to start driving back to Modena, I noticed a boat yard by the sea. We parked the car on the beach. This was at low tide and you could see the Testarossa’s reflection in the water. But Istill wasn’t happy. And it just so happened that at that precise moment a group of youngsters with a dog passed by.

The dog was a Dalmatian. Not adachshund or a wolf hound, but a Dalmatian, witha black and white coat, the same colour as the rocksin the background. ‘That’s it’, I thought. And soit was. Over the years, I’ve heard every possiblecomment about that dog, including that it wasmade of porcelain. When I tell the story of theevolution of this image during my photographyworkshops, I show photos of the dog in everyposition: from the front, the back, from above,below… This is just to say that, beyond the simpleanecdote, a coincidence only becomes a fact onceit has been understood”.

When Fontana got back to Modena, he gavethe prints to the director of marketing at Ferrari.Enzo Ferrari fell in love with the image and evenasked for a lithographic print. Fontana signed 50copies and in this way that day in Riccione wastransformed into one of the most iconic images ofthe Testarossa. Did Fontana ever meet Drake? “Yes,in Modena everyone knew each other”, Fontanasays. “I remember the big dinner events organisedby the municipality. He always turned up on time,chatted with everyone, drank only water and thenat 10.30 he would politely make his excuses andleave. Once he even came to my furniture store.That’s because until 1971 I ran a design showroom,the first in Modena. He was looking for a sofa forhis office. He had a look round, but, when it cameto choosing one, he sent his secretary”.

Spending an afternoon in the company of FrancoFontana is a bit like a session with an analyst. NotFreudian but Zen, one who tells stories and looksat you from the other end of a large table in a roomfilled with books, paintings, ceramics and crystalsfrom all over the world. On the table there’s hisautobiography, which starts in Modena and endsin Modena, after frenetic trips to all of the world’scontinents. There is his first portfolio, publishedin 1964 by Popular Photography. The fashion shootsfor Vogue America. The advertising campaigns formajor brands, from transport to leisure. The listof the 400-odd exhibitions that have paid homageto an absolute master of colour, from the MaisonEuropéenne de la Photographie in Paris to thelatest personal show, Franco Fontana Sintesi (FrancoFontana in Synthesis), at the Fondazione ModenaArti Visive (the Modena Foundation for VisualArts). This is the same Franco Fontana who can transforma building site in Frankfurt into a paintingby Paul Klee, a Florida beach into an archetypalplace, turns a detail from a piece of architecture inNew York into an abstract fragment... His secret?

“You have to photograph what you think, not whatyou see. You take a snap with your mind, not withyour fingers. No matter how perfect a landscapemight be, the photograph will remain silent untilthe photographer uses his own gut instinct.Artistic photography isn’t a postcard. Artists areonly artists if they create a world".

FERRARI TESTAROSSA by Franco Fontana - Poster

$240.00

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