“I am sure they will know, not only to keep it in the best way, but also to enhance it and make it known,” said Francesco Delorenzi, in July 2020, commenting on the decision to donate his rich photographic archive to the Crb Foundation. The first opportunity to see some of the images that compose it on display will be the exhibition “Journey through the winter”, which will be inaugurated today at 5.30 pm at the Spazio Cultura of the Crb Foundation and which presents a selection of shots dedicated to winter landscapes. , one of Delorenzi’s favorite subjects. The photographer himself, originally from Pollone, where he lives in a historic house, where he keeps memories and curiosities, will present the images, during a meeting in the Conference Room. The intervention of Daniela Giordi of «Atelier per i Beni Fotografa» is also foreseen, who will talk about the restoration carried out on the historical plates.
Born in 1936, photographer by passion, in the long period in which he was engaged abroad, where he worked in the field of high-level communication within the European Commission, Delorenzi has recovered several historical images, particularly precious. At the same time he acquired a refined eye that allowed him to create black and white images, with particular attention to Oropa, a scenery he loves very much. Built over a lifetime, its archive therefore consists of two parts. The first includes the historical fund, attributable to the early twentieth century (1908/1930 circa), the result of his careful research as a collector. It includes about 2,000 glass negatives and in various formats, a collection of 500/600 stereoscopic plates, but also groups of autochrome plates and hand-colored glass slides. There are 300 plates taken during the First World War and some images of the Sanctuary of Oropa in the years between 1910 and 1925. The second part consists of its rich production, made between 1955 and 2019 and composed of about 40,000 negatives including over 5,000 images relating to the Biellese area, 5,700 shots dedicated to the Aosta Valley and 1,800 portraits of the “Men of the Mountain” from four different countries.
«My passion was born at the age of ten – he explains – when my father, who was a doctor-radiologist and was particularly fascinated by the chemical aspects of photographic development, put my first camera in my hands. It was a wooden box with a fixed focus lens and only worked in full sun. Today I use one from 1968 which still works very well ». «Francesco Delorenzi – comments Franco Ferraris, president of the Crb Foundation – embodies the spirit of the enlightened collector, who knows how to make the fruit of a lifetime of work available to everyone. This is why the Foundation wanted to dedicate this exhibition to him, which tells of his extraordinary ability to play with the lights and shadows of snow-covered landscapes ». The itinerary also includes a video, made by Michele Burgay, in which Delorenzi talks about himself in his home-archive in Pollone. A place in turn full of charm and suggestions. Visits, with free admission, until January 30: from Monday to Friday (10.30-12.30 and 16-17.30), Saturday and Sunday (16-19).