Paolo Pellion di Persano (Castagneto Po, Turin, Italy, 1947 - 2017) was a famous photographer from Turin whose work significantly contributed to documenting the art world and also the Luci d'Artista event through his shots. Pellion affirmed “I like to photograph art. I would like to achieve a certain objectivity, to be able to convey the works in their being, a verifiable reality”. His first photographs, dating from the 1970s and strongly connected to the work of Arte Povera artists, reflect this intention. In addition to art, during the same period, Pellion also documented social unrest in Italy and the places and people he encountered during his travels in the Orient. A large part of his production is linked to the city of Turin, where he begins to share daily life with local artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gilberto Zorio and Giovanni Anselmo, all of whom are present in the extensive Luci d'Artista collection. On these occasions, he not only portrays them, but also documents their work and contributes to the realisation of the works. From 1975, for over a decade, Pellion collaborated with directors Carlo Quartucci, photographing set designs by artists such as Giulio Paolini, Daniel Buren and Mario Merz. In 1985, he produced the images for the catalogue Ouverture, on the occasion of the Castello di Rivoli's first exhibition, continuing to document the activities of the Museum of Contemporary Art until 2012 and beyond. His work includes collaborations with institutions such as the Rivetti Foundation and the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, as well as with numerous art galleries (Persano, Sperone, Stein, Paludetto, Tucci Russo, Franco Noero) and his photographs are included in the catalogues of important exhibitions. In the last years of his life, Pellion reduced his practical activity to concentrate on tidying up his rich Archive and producing some photographic prints of his most significant shots. Thanks to the collaboration with his son Sebastiano Pellion di Persano, we have begun to collect the photographs dedicated to the “Luci d'Artista” collection, present in this section.
Claudia Allamano
