Carlo Mollino was, among many other things, a photographer and a commentator on photography; Mollino himself placed photography in a privileged role in the pantheon of his interests. Mollino used photography as both a means of expression and an essential instrument for the documentation of his work and his daily life, producing works that were both classical and experimental, public and private. He was also an eloquent champion of photography as an art form, publishing Message from the Darkroom in 1949—a legendary photobook that was part history of photography, part technical manual and gloriously lavish for both functions. Carlo Mollino: Photographs 1934–1973 is a long-overdue survey of Mollino's full body of photographic work, published to accompany the largest and most complete exhibition ever staged of Mollino's photography. With more than 450 illustrations (some never before seen), this publication surveys Mollino's decades-long exploration of the medium, from his first architectural pictures to the erotic Polaroids of his later years, and contextualizes his work within the history of the discipline. Among the most celebrated architects of the 20th century, Carlo Mollino (1905–73) was also a designer, photographer, writer, skier, racing driver and stunt pilot. He studied mechanical engineering, art history and architecture before beginning to work in the architectural practice of his father, Eugenio Mollino, in Turin. Mollino's architectural work in Turin—from his first great building, the headquarters of the Turin Equestrian Association (1937), to his architectural masterpiece, the city's Teatro Regio (1965)—bookends a career marked by elegant, organic modernism and a drive toward fantasy and experimentation.
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