Mario De Biasi captured images of daily Italian life during a period of reconstruction and reconciliation, from World War II to the economic boom of the 1960s. He became the first staff photographer of the Italian magazine Epoca in 1953, where he worked for more than thirty years.
De Biasi, who captured the most important moments of the 20th century, received the title of "Crazy Italian" when he impartially photographed and published the bloody uprising in Hungary in 1956.
He recorded and prepared reports about the student protests that took place everywhere in 1968. In addition to political and historical events, he photographed unforgettable views of New York, the Middle East, Siberia, famous people (Claudia Cardinale, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren), and the wedding of the Shah of Iran with his intense and evocative shots.
The effects of Italian neorealism can be felt in the works of De Biasi, who is interested in cinema and architecture. He reflects traditionalism and the dynamism of the metropolis along with the changing world in a very simple and realistic style, accompanied by the compositions he creates. What makes Mario de Biasi unique is that he can capture an ordinary image and pain from the same angle.
Mario De Biasi (Sois, Belluno, 1923 – Milan, 2013) bought his first camera in Nuremberg, where he was deported in 1945. For the next eight years, he took photographs constantly and held exhibitions as an amateur photographer. His first paintings, taken during a trip to Sicily in 1949, prove his natural ability to capture different subjects and bring them together in the same frame to create a story in a single image.
De Biasi went to New York for the first time in 1955, participating in a haute couture expedition. He stayed there for a while, met Sugar Ray Robinson, became close friends with his sister, and went with her to the Savoy Ballroom – which would be demolished three years later. He took powerful photographs that writer Camilla Cederna commented on: "In his photographs, one can breathe in the wild smell of the sea felt in New York at a certain hour, the smell of beautiful donuts on Broadway at night... Not everything has been said about New York yet."
De Biasi gained international fame in Budapest, where riots broke out in 1956. All the major magazines sent their photojournalists: John Sadovy was there for 'Life', Erich Lessing for the Magnum agency, Jean-Pierre Pedrazzini for 'Paris Match', etc. De Biasi's paintings were first published in 'Epoca' and were so well received that they were purchased and published by nineteen magazines all over the world.
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Mario De Biasi and Milan. Extraordinary edition
https://www.internimagazine.com/agenda/mario-de-biasi-and-milan-extraordinary-edition/