Giuseppe Cavalli


Giuseppe Cavalli was an Italian photographer, little known outside his native country. His work had a "simple, quiet aesthetic" and he was "best known for his ‘high-key’ style, characterised by the use of bright, even lighting to minimise shadow." Cavalli was a joint founder of the photography group La Bussola in 1947, and on his own formed the photography group Misa in 1953.

Life and work

Cavalli was born in 1904, in Lucera in Italy’s southern Apulia region. He practised as a lawyer until 1935. After purchasing his first camera, in 1939 he settled in the seaside town of Senigallia on the Adriatic coast and devoted himself to photography.
With Luigi Veronesi and others he founded the photography group La Bussola :it:La Bussola | in 1947, and singularly he founded the photography group Misa in 1953. Mario Giacomelli, whom Cavalli influenced, was an early member of Misa. Cavalli wrote essays about Bussola's aesthetic that were published in Italian photographic journals, and promoted photography exhibitions and competitions.
Cavalli died in Senigallia in 1961 at the age of fifty-seven.

Publications

Cavalli's work is held in the following permanent collection: