Nino Migliori, Italian b.1926
Il tuffatore (the diver), 1951

POA

Silver print, printed later
signed, titled and dated (verso)
30cm × 40cm (52.5cm × 61.5cm framed)

Self-taught, Nino Migliori began making photographs in 1948, documenting his familiar and beloved Italy as it emerged from the second world war. The artist traveled throughout his homeland, from the impoverished south to the more affluent and industrial northern regions, capturing the people with the affection and empathy of an equal. A prominent figure in the neo-realist school of photography, Migliori produced a rich and significant body of work in post-WWII Italy. The country was engaged in throwing off the repressive shackles of a fascist regime, an idealistic pursuit not lost on its photographic community. Migliori and his fellow documentarians pledged to expose the human condition and all its foibles, replacing romanticism with wit and humanity. 

The artist’s most recognizable photograph, Il Tuffatore (The Diver) 1951 shows two brothers on a Rimini dock, one jumping over the other into the sea. Migliori captured the moment in which the diver is parallel to the horizon, suspended in mid-air above his brother. Viewers often ask if the image has been manipulated, but it was simply perfectly timed.