From 1961 to 1964, Barbey spent much time in Italy trying to capture the spirit of the nation through his photography. Barbey's subjects have the archetypical profiles that are instantly recognizable from the popular Italian films of Pasolini, Visconti, and Fellini - the modern commedia dell'arte of the ragazzi, nuns, aristocracy, carabinieri, priests, beggars, prostitutes, and mafiosi.
Capturing the spirit of a nation is an audacious target. The album “The Italian” has 95 images. I don’t like documentary photography in general, but it is still eye catching to me. The images are all about Italian people. They are the environmental portraiture. Bruno took these photos a couple of years after Frank’s The American. It is very different from Frank’s style. I knew of this album a more than 10 years ago when I started to look around different kind of photography. The title inspired me. A camera to capture the spirit of a nation...
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