Joel Meyerowitz on show in Brescia: Italy's major anthological exhibition

From March 25 to August 24, 2025, the Santa Giulia Museum in Brescia hosts Joel Meyerowitz. A Sense of Wonder. Photographs 1962-2022, the first Italian anthological exhibition dedicated to the master of street photography, Joel Meyerowitz (New York, 1938). The exhibition, curated by Denis Curtiand produced in collaboration with the Joel Meyerowitz Photography Archive in New York, traces the artist’s entire career through more than 90 images spanning six decades of visual research. The event is the centerpiece of the eighth edition of the Brescia Photo Festival, this year dedicated to the theme of Archives.

The exhibition is part of a larger project entitled Americana. An Anthology for Images, conceived by Denis Curti, which will continue in the coming years with two more exhibitions dedicated to Bruce Gilden (2026) and Francesco Jodice (2027). Organized by the City of Brescia and Fondazione Brescia Musei, in collaboration with Cavallerizza - Centro della Fotografia Italiana, the retrospective celebrates one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, whose vision redefined the language of urban photography.

“I have never been so happy,” Meyerowitz himself said, “or so eager for the world to show itself to me. I found my nature, if you can really call it that. I was not afraid to enter places, groups or situations that would never have presented themselves to me before.”

“Walking along the sidewalks of the city,” writes Denis Curti in the text published in the Skira catalog, “Meyerowitz observes the movements of the crowd from the inside, his point of view is ’being there,’ since so many and unpredictable are the events that can be captured by a single frame to structure a renewed process of signification in photography. In this way he reveals the hidden aspects of places, people, and life itself, illuminating the dark corners of the social and cultural languages of our time.”

“Great auteur photography returns to the city, with the eighth edition of Brescia Photo Festival, an event that has become a must, highly anticipated by all enthusiasts and insiders,” says Laura Castelletti, Mayor of Brescia. "The opening exhibition is dedicated to Joel Meyerowitz, one of the protagonists of the contemporary photography scene. It is an extensive retrospective that allows us to look back over sixty years of the author’s career, from 1960 to 2022. The exhibition presents more than 90 images through which it is possible to grasp the artist’s attention to everyday beauty, of places, faces, and urban spaces, which often goes unnoticed. Ample space, then, is devoted to the iconic shots of the World Trade Center, immediately following the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and the 365 self-shots taken during the lockdown period of 2020, offered in Italy for the first time.

Meyerowitz’s exhibition represents an extraordinary opportunity, not only to get up close and personal with the masterpieces of one of the greatest photographers at the international level, but also to return with the mind, through the evocative power of the images, to significant historical moments that are still alive in the hearts of all of us.

“Fondazione Brescia Musei,” adds Francesca Bazoli, President Fondazione Brescia Musei, “is honored to present the first Italian anthological exhibition of one of the greatest living photographers, Joel Meyerowitz. Fondazione Brescia Musei’s commitment to photographic art-and in particular its focus on American photography, which in four years has seen us present major solo exhibitions of Edward Weston, Ansel Adams and David LaChapelle-allows us to propose to the Italian public, as a major event of the VIII Brescia Photo Festival, the multifaceted visual universe of an authentic ”flaneur“ of reality. In this social dimension, which for the American artist takes on the sense of wonder at the world he represents, also lies the sense of the attention our institution places on an expressive tool that delineates better than any other the sociological dimension of artistic investigation. My thanks to curator Denis Curti, with whom we are inaugurating a new three-year journey, to director Stefano Karadjov, and to the staff of Brescia Musei, who have organized a new exhibition of international caliber at the Museo di Santa Giulia.”

“Joel Meyerowitz’s anthological exhibition at the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia,” says Stefano Karadjov, director, Fondazione Brescia Musei, “is extraordinarily appropriate to the times we are living in. Although this project started, in collaboration with Denis Curti, before the recent U.S. elections, rarely could we have identified a narrative of the changing U.S. identity as appropriate as that of the New York-based artist, whose work continually questions the relationship between the individual and society and, particularly in the portfolio dedicated to America during the Vietnam War, that between peace and conflict. The exhibition is dedicated to Giovanni Chiaramonte, the great intellectual and photographer, who passed away recently, with whom I came into contact with Joel Meyerowitz’s humanistic work more than 20 years ago, to gradually appropriate it and come to propose it, curated by Denis Curti, as the first stage of a three-year journey to the United States, which will continue in 2026 with Bruce Golden and in 2027 with Francesco Jodice’s Italian gaze. I would like to thank the publisher Skira for the beautiful catalog and the good colleagues who have allowed Fondazione Brescia Musei to wear a new precious ring in our commitment to photography, never more precious than this year because of the collaboration with the Joel Meyerowitz New York Archive, which together with us has built this exhibition, which constitutes a precious absolute original.”

A pioneer of color photography

At a time when black and white dominated the language of photography, Meyerowitz chose to explore the chromatic potential of the image, creating an innovative and deeply immersive aesthetic. His gaze, influenced by masters such as Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus, is distinguished by his ability to approach his subjects with a sense of intimacy and naturalness, capturing fleeting moments of everyday life with extraordinary sensitivity.

The images in the exhibition are organized into thematic chapters and include some of the artist’s most iconic shots, alongside lesser-known but equally important work. A central aspect of his work is his ability to transform ordinary scenes into powerful visual narratives, in which color becomes an essential tool for interpreting the complexity of reality.

From 1960s America to Ground Zero.

One of the key moments of the retrospective is the series made in 1967, when Meyerowitz, returning to the United States after a long trip to Europe, was confronted with a country scarred by tensions related to the Vietnam War. Unlike the reporters engaged on the battlefronts, the photographer chose to turn his lens on American society at the time, returning a deep and multifaceted portrait of it.

In the 1980s, his focus gradually shifted from urban bustle to contemplation of nature. Images made on Cape Cod, on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts, show a new approach to photography, more meditative and immersed in landscapes. This period marks a phase of reflection on the relationship between man and the environment, with shots that convey a sense of stillness and timelessness.

But it is in 2001 that Meyerowitz faces one of his most important challenges. After the attack on the Twin Towers, he is the only photographer authorized to document Ground Zero in the months following the tragedy. The images from those days, characterized by a sober chromaticity and a more austere language, are a tribute to the memory of the victims and the commitment of those who worked among the rubble. The work marks a shift from the typical approach of street photography to a more documentary dimension, capable of recounting the resilience of a wounded nation.

The lockdown and the personal archive

A previously unseen chapter of the exhibition is devoted to the self-shots taken by Meyerowitz during the 2020 lockdown. For the first time in Italy, some of the 365 self-portraits that the artist took day after day in isolation are presented. The deeply introspective series offers a reflection on suspended time and the identity of the individual at an unprecedented moment in history. Through the works, Meyerowitz reaffirms the role of photography as a tool for investigating not only external reality, but also inner reality. His ever-evolving research shows how the image can become a means of reconsidering the present and questioning personal and collective memory.

The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive Public Program, curated by Fondazione Brescia Musei, which includes meetings, screenings and in-depth activities. On March 25, opening day, a dialogue between Meyerowitz and Denis Curti is scheduled at the Santa Giulia Museum Auditorium, followed by a catalog signing session. On the same evening, Cinema Nuovo Eden will host the Italian premiere of the documentary Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other, directed by Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter, which explores the relationship between the photographer and his wife Maggie Barrett. The film is the first installment in a film series featuring four documentaries devoted to photography, identity and memory, offering another key to understanding Meyerowitz’s work and its impact on contemporary visual culture. The exhibition Joel Meyerowitz. A Sense of Wonder. Photographs 1962-2022, made possible thanks to the support of Alleanza per la Cultura, is accompanied by a catalog published by Skira and can be visited with the free Easyguide app, which includes an audio guide with the voice of curator Denis Curti.

Joel Meyerowitz on show in Brescia: Italy's major anthological exhibition

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