«Evanescenti come in un sogno soavissimo». Gustavo Bonaventura e il ritratto fotografico nei primi anni del Novecento in Italia
Emanuele Carlenzi
This article focuses on the career of Gustavo Bonaventura (1882-1966), a photographer working during Pictorialism in Italy, and particularly on his activity in Rome in the early 20th century, where he opened a studio dedicated to portrait photography. Here, he became a point of reference for the society of his time, establishing a particular stylistic signature and becoming a master of the gum bichromate technique. Through his relations with international artists such as Rudolf Dührkoop, Hugo Erfurth, Nicola Perscheid, and Auguste Rodin, and his participation in the photographic exhibitions organised around 1910, the essay traces the exchanges between Italian and foreign photography. The text sheds light on the development of portrait art in Italy and the critical debate that arose around the relationship between Pictorialism and soft-focus portraiture, as well as the influences that contributed in creating Bonaventura’s artistic expression.