« The history of the Luxardos began in the first years of the 20th century when the young photographer Aldo Luxardo decided to leave Pise (Pisa) and set his lens on far objects: America. Alfredo, with his wife Margherita, stopped at S. Paul in Brazil – country that will mark the destiny of the whole Luxardo family. His subject changed, from the American myth to the Amazonian tribes: group photos and portraits developed and printed in absolute empirical ways. In Brazil his three children were born: Elio, Elda and Aldo. In 1928 Alfredo Luxardo returned in Italy where he took over the photo studio Sam Bosch (Photographer of the Royal House) in via XX Settembre. Here began the history of the liaison Rome-Luxardo.The three children, Elio, who previusly joined the Experimental Center of Cinematography, Aldo and Elda worked in their father’s studio. It was the thirties and the famous studio in via del Tritone fixed some features that developped a following and signed a epoch. Diffuse lights, combined with reflexes, dark settings and light cuttings that carved faces and designed bodies. In few words the Myth of Beauty was born, the cult of the body. The studio was populated of divas and sports champions, intellectuals and artists, from Pirandello to Marinetti, from Assia Noris to Isa Miranda, from Valentina Cortese to Alida Valli, to the world champion Primo Carnera. In the postwar period there was a cooperation with the « Folie de Broadway » and than the beginning of the contest Miss Italia from which came celebrities like Loren and Lollobrigida. The Dolce Vita – the intense friendship with Federico Fellini – movies like « Poveri ma Belli » (« Poor but Beautiful »), actors like Mastrianni and Gassmann. These were the images of the sixties. The last dream of Elio Luxardo has been Sperlonga, where he retired to live. On the Mediterranean coast, the photographer looked for the lights and colors of the native country, but in vain. He died in 1969 at the age of 59. His brother Aldo continued to work alone in the family studio – that his sister Elda left marrying the producer Argento, father of the director, Dario. But the recall of the land of origin became stronger and stronger and, at the end, Aldo decided to go back to Brazil. » Luxario gallery

 

 

Elio Luxardo biographie

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