Roberto Masotti’s single lens closed the shutter forever and the great photographer left after an illness. He was born in Ravenna in 1947 and from a very young age he had been passionate about the most beautiful shots, an art that, thanks to his stubbornness and talent, had made his profession in a short time. But Masotti was not just a photographer, he was involved in music, indeed he was one of the music photographers par excellence. His art has fully crossed the history of our country since the early 70s. The shots of him, often in black and white, managed not only to capture the characters but also their essence, what led them to communicate through music.
His collaborations with authentic institutions such as Gianni Sassi’s Cramps Records and Area are legendary. His portraits of Demetrio Stratos still manage to restore the latter to the height of an almost tangible vitality. Roberto loved contemporary music and his shots of John Cage are famous, as well as many other composers for the Cramps Nova Musicha series. Just as the great friendship with Franco Battiato was very fruitful.
Since 1973 the most beautiful photographic portraits in the career of the Sicilian singer-songwriter are those of Roberto Masotti. Thanks to this friendship, he managed to place a photo of him on the Italian pop record par excellence, “La voce del padrone”. Beyond all this Masotti was among the proponents of a magazine called Gong, perhaps the highest testimony at the level of music criticism in the 70s. His love of him at three hundred and sixty degrees for the seven notes had then led him to work with the German label ECM, for which he made shots of great atmosphere that communicate states of suspension of time and space.
Paired with his beloved companion of all time, Silvia Lelli (also an appreciated photographer) had also worked hard to offer his services to La Scala. Finally, it should be remembered that Roberto had a musical love that surpassed all others: that for jazz. With his goal he immortalized in a unique and original way the likes of Miles Davis, Archie Shepp, Carla Bley, Sam Rivers, Cecil Taylor, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett. He was also linked to the latter by an estimate that resulted in some beautiful volumes. In this chaos of stimuli, Roberto Masotti leaves us teaching us that only an open mind can produce images of boundless charm.