AGI – There is the “private”, “more intimate” callas, the one off stage, walking the streets of Milan or Portofino, walking with her beloved poodle, in the restaurant, at the airport, in a swimsuit in front of the sea of Ischia, but also on Onassis’ yacht or in court on the days the case was discussed Separation from her husband.
Behind the scenes pictures from the life of the great opera singer, which will be shown in the exhibition at the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan from November 9th to February 18th on the occasion of her 100th birthday “Maria Callas, portraits from the Publifoto Intesa Sanpaolo archive”. The exhibition full of 91 images that Curator Aldo Grasso selected from the photo agency’s archive, covering the years 1954 to 1970.
The selection wasn’t easy, he admitted, “since the photos were all significant, we used the criterion of choosing those that were ‘vivid and need to be re-read again and again.’ There are photos in the exhibition that ‘speak beyond the data’ and are from the era.” has incredible significance today, especially for Callas’ life. They are photos of everyday life, with loves and tormentsthere is her life away from the stage.” Only two pictures show the soprano in the theater; they open and close the exhibition.
© Photography by Franco Gremignani – Publifoto – Publifoto Intesa Sanpaolo Archive
Aristotle Onassis dances with Maria Callas at the New Year’s Eve party at the Hotel de Paris
The first is from December 1, 1954, and describes it Callas together with the three great conductors Arturo Toscanini, Victor De Sabata and Antonino Votto after one of the rehearsals of La Vestale; the last one is from December 7, 1970 and shows her return to the Scala as a spectator alongside Wally Toscanini. All the others, 89 pictures, are from everyday life, certainly always of a star, i.e. at the party in Monte Carlo, on the mega yacht or in Capri.
The format is the original, he noted Giovanni Bazoli, Chairman Emeritus of Intesa Sanpaolo. “I thought it was right to leave the photos in their format. A rarity these days because there are so many ways to improve it. But these very small photos force the visitor to get closer and read the captions. That touched me very much, I felt that.” as if I knew her.
On the other hand, it was precisely this agency that exposed the affair between Divina and Onassis in Milan on September 3, 1959. You can see the development of Maria Callas, her “cobbler” transformationhow her sister-in-law had called her unkindly, to the swan which fits into a tight sheath dress by the most famous designer of the time, Biki. And who emancipated herself from her husband, who remained rather provincial and couldn’t integrate well into the international jet set to which she now belonged, even with Princess Grace.
E her great love, the shipowner Onassis “which for them was revenge on the brutality of life”. The spark struck on the yacht Christina, of which there are several photos. But as is well known, the relationship did not have a happy ending. To console her she had her long-time friends Antonio Ghiringhelli, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica, Franco Zeffirelli and of course Pier Paolo Pasolini, with whom she made the film Medea.
Each photo is part of a mosaic that will never end, but “one caught my eye,” says Aldo Grasso, “it is from 1955. It shows a dinner at Savini, at his side is Visconti, you can see Ghiringhelli and Recognize Meneghini.” A corner. And there is a gentleman who brings Callas a bouquet of roses, I am impressed by the gesture, the homage, it was Valentino Bompiani. Callas resists over time because it becomes a myth, passed down through stories.”
The Intesa Sanpaolo Publifoto archive is “the treasure island” full of testimonies. In the years under consideration, television, among other things, was still in its infancy, born in 1954. That was the time of the big magazines for which Publifoto worked.
“We both posted photos below the only one in color, together with her husband Giambattista Meneghini, who looks at her admiringly, in the living room of the Milanese house in Via Buonarroti or in the studio trying on clothes, be they stolen or taken photos – explains the curator Aldo Grasso -. They are photos that tell us about his life, with the characters that are part of it.”
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