Storie di terra

negative 1956; print 1981 · Photograph · 30.1 × 40.2 cm

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Storie di terra” now? Collection: J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Not on view at present. Checked October 7, 2026.

J. Paul Getty Museum

Los Angeles, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 5 days ago
In this state since: Oct 7, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

Italy’s Marche region is characterized by rolling hills, small farms, and *frazioni* (hamlets), all of which were among the first motifs that Giacomelli photographed. As with his portraits and figure studies from this period, the compositions of his early landscapes were fairly conventional, with foreground, middle-ground, and background elements organized around a clearly discernible horizon line. As he refined his technique, however, Giacomelli often positioned himself at the top of a hill pointing his camera downward or at the base aiming it upward, thereby eliminating the horizon and creating a disorienting patchwork of geometric shapes. His development of the negative, use of high-contrast paper, and manipulations in the darkroom further enhanced the distinctively graphic qualities of his images.

Read on

It was not uncommon for him to scratch forms into his negatives to add dramatic counterpoints. Over the years, Giacomelli returned to certain sites multiple times, documenting them during different seasons and crop rotations. He would later incorporate photographs made for one purpose into a series that had other ambitions, most notably to function as commentary on the capacity of both natural occurrences and human interventions to change the character of the land. Sant’Angelo is one of the many *frazioni* (hamlets) surrounding Senigallia that Giacomelli revisited as seasons changed and crops were rotated. He initially titled photographs made at this location Stories of the Land, but he also referred to them as The Land That Dies (La terra che muore), equating the deterioration brought about by the modernization of small-scale farming with the scars and wounds that accompany aging. See also [2016.179.5.1](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297416/) for another image from this series. Virginia Heckert, J. Paul Getty Museum, Department of Photographs 2021

J. Paul Getty Museum