An extensive retrospective devoted to Joel Meyerowitz, a leading figure in contemporary photography, is coming to Brescia

From March 25 to August 24, 2025, the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia will host an extensive retrospective intended to be the first true anthological exhibition ever organized in Italy dedicated to Joel Meyerowitz (New York, 1938), among the major protagonists of contemporary photography. Curated by Denis Curti, promoted by the Fondazione Brescia Musei, in collaboration with the Joel Meyerowitz Photography Archive in New York, the exhibition is the most anticipated event of the 8th edition of the Brescia Photo Festival, promoted by the Municipality of Brescia and Fondazione Brescia Musei, in collaboration with Ma.Co.f - Centro della Fotografia Italiana.

JOEL MEYEROWITZ. A Sense of Wonder. Photographs 1962-2022, this is the title of the retrospective, will trace his entire career, six decades of activity, from the 1960s to the present, through more than ninety images divided by themes. Many of these have helped to redefine the concept of Street photography, in the field in which Joel Meyerowitz makes his entry by introducing the use of color to fully interpret and capture the complexity of the modern world.

Beginning in the 1960s, Meyerowitz distinguished himself among New York’s most interesting young avant-garde photographers. His art is characterized by his capacity for identification and total immersion in what his eye sees and his lens translates into image. The most typical feature of his photography can be defined by the English term intimacy, that is, the ability to get as close as possible to the scene to try to capture the intimacy of the moment, to welcome the unexpected. Examples are the images made in the United States during the Vietnam War, which offer an original view of American society at the time, helping to reflect on the country’s identity at a time of deep crisis, to question the relationship between the individual and society.

In the photographs of the 1980s, on the other hand, Meyerowitz progressively shifts his gaze away from the street in favor of nature, such as those taken on Cape Cod, on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts, which stand out for their broad scope and meditative contemplation of places, or his Still lives, with their strong evocative power, or the images taken by Meyerowitz, the only photographer authorized to document the World Trade Center district of New York in the days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

A focus is devoted to the 365 self-shots, never presented in Italy, that Meyerowitz took of himself, day by day, during the 2020 lockdown. Even in these more recent works, the photographer reminds us how photography can be a means of reflection on the experience of the individual and the collective, a device for rediscovering the present in all its aspects.

An extensive retrospective devoted to Joel Meyerowitz, a leading figure in contemporary photography, is coming to Brescia

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