Mario GiacomelliItalian, 1925–2000Lourdes
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J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
In contrast to Hospice / Death Will Come and It Will Have Your Eyes ([2016.179.6.10](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297444/), [2016.179.6.11](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297445/), [2016.179.6.12](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297446/), [2016.179.40](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297490/), [2020.74](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/350481/)), the series Lourdes depicts people living with illness, injury, or disability who are in search of miraculous healing. Giacomelli received a commission to photograph at this Catholic pilgrimage site in southern France in 1957. Tremendously pained by what he saw, he shot just a few rolls of film, returned the fee that had been advanced, and did not show anyone the images for some time. He traveled to Lourdes again in 1966, with his wife and second child.
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This time he, too, was in search of a cure, for their son, who had lost the ability to speak following an accident. Lourdes is the only series that Giacomelli created outside Italy, although a group of photographs made in Ethiopia (1974) and another in India (1976) have been attributed to him. Giacomelli purchased cameras and film for two individuals who were planning travel to these countries, and both of them drew on previous discussions with him when they photographed at their respective locations. Giacomelli later made prints from the negatives and signed his name to several of them, acknowledging the collaboration. See another example from this series ([2016.179.56](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297515/)). Virginia Heckert, J. Paul Getty Museum, Department of Photographs 2021
J. Paul Getty Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2016.179.58
In the catalog
Sources
- J. Paul Getty Museum
- Image: J. Paul Getty Museum — ; In Copyright
