On Rai5 two documentaries dedicated to Robert Doisneau and Ugo Mulas

Photography is the great protagonist of the episode of Art Night airing on Rai 5 on Friday, April 8 at 9:15 pm. It starts with a documentary dedicated to Robert Doisneau (Gentilly, 1912 - Montrouge, 1994): thanks to a rich archive of never-before-seen images, interviews with his friends, “accomplices,” and extremely rare archive footage, Cémentine Deroudille ’s documentary Robert Doisneau - The Lens of Wonders is a portrait of one of the 20th century’s greatest photographers, whose 100th birthday falls on April 14, known for immortal masterpieces such as The Kiss and for a profoundly humanist approach to Art. The film chronicles his life from a young boy from the suburbs to becoming a photographic superstar, showing all his determination to become the greatest “portraitist of human happiness.” A televised portrait that traces his life with a look behind the scenes, intoDoisneau’s intimacy and into the heart of his creativity, told through materials from his personal archive: letters, notebooks, auditions, images, family footage and everything to do with his story.

Almost in spite of himself, he became one of the most famous photographers in the world, and his most famous photo The Kiss of the Hôtel de Ville became a symbol for the city of Paris. Doisneau is often remembered as a photographer who embodied a certain old-fashioned vision of Parisian identity, as someone who loved the old buildings and obsolete pieces that are now in museums, but instead the exact opposite of that image emerges from this documentary: he faced the future with confidence, and shunned nostalgia, he was always funny, carefree and irreverent, always on the move. Often his works have been misinterpreted. .His shots conceal a desire to celebrate beauty and joy and show that they exist, even for a second: thus, his photographs were meant to become a balm for the eyes, something to cling to in difficult times. Doisneau spent all his experience in an attempt to capture happiness in his images, with the idea that telling the story of life is not just about revealing its ugliness and capturing its pain, but there is another way: this is the lesson to be learned from Robert Doisneau’s photographs and perhaps also why he was so successful.

This is followed by a document from the Teche Rai, dedicated to Ugo Mulas (Pozzolengo, 1928 - Milan, 1973): Portraits - protagonists of culture in Milan. Photography. Ugo Mulas 1989, made by his own wife Antonia Mulas. A black-and-white portrait, a first-person account of his work and his passion for photography. From his beginnings at Caffè Jamaica in Milan, a meeting place for artists and intellectuals, to his relationship with the art world, from his friendship with some of the greatest artists of the second half of the twentieth century to his experience in America in the 1960s when Pop Art exploded, to his latest research that led him to abandon reportage on art and instead reflect on the potential of the photographic medium itself.

From the recollections and testimonies of artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and gallery owner Leo Castelli, it emerges how much Mulas was a true pioneer in art photography. The first to tell through his shots the art in the moment of its creation. The first to immerse himself completely in the art scene, to live in contact with artists to capture through their behavior, the meaning of their art making. His eye was able to see before others, and Ugo Mulas did not just immortalize artists and their works but was himself a great artist. Supplemented with comments by critic Costantino D’Orazio, photographer Aurelio Amendola and gallery owner Lia Rumma, who now works closely with the Ugo Mulas Archive, the historical document is enriched with contributions that update the figure of this undisputed protagonist of the Italian and international art scene of the second half of the 20th century.

Art Night, hosted by Neri Marcorè, is a program by Silvia De Felice and Emanuela Avallone, Massimo Favia, Alessandro Rossi, with direction by Andrea Montemaggiori.

Pictured is a detail of Doisneau’s Kiss .

On Rai5 two documentaries dedicated to Robert Doisneau and Ugo Mulas

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