the antonioni adventure – italian cinema in the 1960’s
“men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.”
herakleitos – 5th century BC
book design for the michelangelo antonioni adventure – written by george porcari
featuring a soft-touch finish cover and a back printed embossed shell
“the antonioni adventure offers a fascinating look at the disturbing
eye of antonioni – in their time the films were about really seeing anew. dissuaded by alienation george porcari rocks through what might have been called in an earlier day, pure adventure.” – julia scher
special paper stock for the in-leaf – front and back of book
printed on natural unbleached recycled paper stock
signed editions by the author – george porcari available at gucci wooster bookstore, dashwood books and mast books in new york
individually numbered and signed first edition of 300 prints
monica vitti in “la notte” (the night), 1961
marcello mastroianni in “la notte” (the night), 1961
“blowup” film poster, 1966 – directed by michelangelo antonioni
“more than half a century after they were made, antonioni’s films remain singular and charged with mystery, existing both in and outside of their time. a photographer and filmmaker himself, george porcari’s critical understanding of antonioni is also a spiritual understanding of art and how it is made. porcari positions antonioni’s films within a larger cultural history without diminishing their singularity. this book makes antonioni’s work newly alive.” – chris kraus
director michelangelo antonionio
alain delon in “l’eclisse” (the eclipse), 1962
“blow up”, 1966 – full color slip sheets
monica vitti in “il deserto rosso” (red desert), 1964
jack nicholson in “professione: reporter” (the passenger), 1975
excerpt from the book:
“bertolt brecht once wrote that “emigration is the best catalyst for dialectics” and he was probably right at least where he was concerned – he wrote one of his best plays, galileo, in los angeles during his exile as world war II raged in europe. while some artists such as george grosz and andré kertész lost their muse upon arrival in new york, many thrived under the pressures of the american scene – from alfred hitchcock to wim wenders. antonioni did not settle into a hollywood career, despite the fact that zabriskie point was financed by MGM, nor did he romanticize the american west, as did wenders in a series of remarkable road films. antonioni pursued a different trajectory and a distinctive aesthetic that took from his earlier work and moved in new directions.”
“zabriskie point” filmed in death valley, 1970
excerpt from the book:
“for antonioni any closure was simply an opening into another contingent space, another state of immanence with more unresolved questions. he searched for a rhythm and he found it. a sedulous observer of emotional shifts he crucially leaves all of the loose ends visible; all the things said half jokingly, but seriously, are left dangling; all of the unforeseen births, irrational shifts, and sudden deaths of emotional connections are out in the open; and perhaps most importantly all those things left unsaid remain unsaid. silence has never been more eloquent.”
