Castaldi

Alfa Castaldi (1926-1997). Italian photographer. He enrolled in the university but never graduated, following a difficult but fascinating path which took him from the Faculty of Architecture to the Faculties of Italian Literature and Philosophy. Although he was a student of Pietro Longhi, he could be ironic about his sound education: “Culture is useful only to make an excellent figure in salons.” He began his career in 1948 with photo reportage. Together with Ugo Mulas, his table companion at the Jamaica Bar in Milan, which was a gathering place for the main figures in some of the most creatively and intellectually vital years in that city, he was among the young people who chose photography as the form of journalism most suitable for reporting on Italy’s reconstruction after the war. In the early 1960s he became a fashion photographer, attracted by the great freedom offered by this means of expression. He worked with Arianna, Grazia, Vogue Italy, and many other Italian and foreign magazines, moving with self-assurance from still-life portraits to backstage at the Collections.
He works for Lagerfeld, Valentino, and Krizia. His style is deeply innovative, characterized by an accentuated formal rigor and by clear references to the most refined culture of the time, of which he is also an interpreter. Models appear, under his careful use of light, to be “moldable matter,” and must adjust to unusual situations: ironic poses, complex preparations, white backgrounds, an emphasis on clothing used as accessories in order to create the right atmosphere. All these characterize the image of Alfa Castaldi in the 1970s. He was also interested in teaching and worked at the Superstudio of Milan on a project for a school for people interested in photography, design, and the fashion business.