Arriving for the first time in Italy, in Rovigo, is a major monographic exhibition dedicated to Rodney Smith, a celebrated New York photographer whose refined combination of classical elegance, rigorous composition and elegant, surreal irony is so distinctive that he has been compared in many cases to René Magritte. The extensive retrospective entitled RODNEY SMITH. Photography Between Real and Surreal, will be on view at Palazzo Roverella from October 3, 2025 to February 1, 2026. Curated by Anne Morin, promoted by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, in collaboration with diChroma photography, the Municipality of Rovigo and the Accademia dei Concordi, and produced by Silvana Editoriale, it will display more than one hundred works by the renowned photographer.
A pupil of Walker Evans, influenced by Ansel Adams and inspired by the work of Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson and William Eugene Smith, his photographs have appeared in major publications such as TIME, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, to name a few. The photographer has also won significant awards for his fashion photography in collaboration with well-known brands, including Ralph Lauren, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman. Acclaimed for his black-and-white images that combine portrait and landscape, Rodney Smith has created enchanted, visionary worlds in which there is no shortage of subtle contradictions but also surprises. Made using only film and natural light, his images, never retouched, are distinguished by meticulous craftsmanship and extraordinary formal precision.
Smith’s aesthetic also has clear parallels with the cinematic tradition, harking back to the work of directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Terrence Malick and Wes Anderson, and to silent film legends such as Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd.
Rodney Smith, an educated man and scholar of theology and philosophy, described himself as an “anxious loner,” who found in photography the language that allowed him to express himself best, but also comfort in capturing images-a way to “reconcile the everyday with the ideal,” to become a participant and not just an observer. Constantly searching for the meaning of life, his images capture the world with humor, grace and optimism and lead the viewer into poetic realms of reflections and reflections, into serene imaginary places.
“Each image created by Smith, with the care and precision of a goldsmith, is an ever new attempt to recreate this divine harmony and to achieve a higher state, if only for an instant. Each image is ethereal and ecstatic,” the curator explains. “Wherever one’s gaze is placed in the image, the eye is immediately seduced by the grace, refinement, exquisite juxtaposition of forms and counter-forms, diversity of subject matter, and narrative richness that excels in sobriety, parsimony and silence.”
Divided into six thematic sections (The Divine Proportion, Gravity, Ethereal Spaces, Through the Looking Glass, Time and Permanence, and Passages), the exhibition features mostly black-and-white works, testifying to the fact that Smith began working with color only beginning in 2002.
“After forty-five years and thousands of rolls of film,” the photographer himself stated, “I still feel this unconditional love for black and white film. However, contrary to what many of my acquaintances thought, I changed my mind and about eight years ago started shooting in color as well. It serves a different function for me, and I will talk about that later, however there is nothing for me like the darkness and blazing intensity of black and white. It is an abstraction that happens by addition. Yes, there is much more color in black and white than there is in color.”
Accompanying the exhibition is a catalog published by Silvana Editoriale, edited by Anne Morin, which includes texts by curators Anne Morin and Susan Bright, and Leslie Smolan, Executive Director at Estate of Rodney Smith.
|
|
| In Rovigo a major monographic exhibition dedicated to New York photographer Rodney Smith. For the first time in Italy |
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.
