Between the ages of 16 and 20, Di Paolo, who had been an amateur painter, began to interact with the Roman art world, especially the group "Gruppo Forma 1" of artists who declared themselves "formalists and Marxists".

Paolo Di Paolo was born in Larino in the Molise region of southern Italy in 1925. He moved to Rome in 1939. After completing his studies in classical literature in high school, he entered the University of Rome to study philosophy. Between the ages of 16 and 20, Di Paolo, who had been an amateur painter, began to interact with the Roman art world, especially the group "Gruppo Forma 1" of artists who declared themselves "formalists and Marxists". After graduation, Di Paolo saw a Leica III C in a store window and fell in love with it (it was also the first camera used by Henri Cartier-Bresson). Encouraged by artist friends, he bought it and sincerely came into contact with art through photography. In 1954, he began a historic cooperation with the most authoritative weekly magazine "World" in the literary and art world at that time. The images recorded in "World", a magazine specially compiled for intellectuals, are his favorite - the images are not necessarily related to the articles published, but each has its own independent narrative. Of course, what Di Paolo didn't expect was that he would later become the photographer with the most pictures published in "World" magazine. Venice Film Festival has become a strong competitor of Cannes Film Festival and Oscar.

Di Paolo's personal quality, knowledge and elegant taste (he is the only one in Italy who uses the British aristocrat's perfume brand Penhaligon), which makes him different from ordinary photographers. Many Italian aristocrats, many celebrities and famous writers particularly appreciate him and invite him to serve as photographers. It's specially shot. In 1956, Hollywood silent film star Gloria Swanson posed gracefully like a dancer at the famous Villa d'Este in Rome - to imitate a twisted tree in the garden, and also because she wanted to conquer the man she fell in love with. A Hungarian sculptor Amerigo Tot. But Di Paolo never published a series of photos of the teenage couple strolling hand in hand in the garden.

Another photo that expresses the intimate tenderness of a lover is Di Paolo's back view of Fellini and his wife Giulietta Masina kissing in the Venice Hotel - one of the most famous long-lived soul partners in the history of film (for 50 years) Year). Through light and shadow, whether Di Paolo takes photos of star-studded stars or murderers, he also has a vivid sense of narrative. He can be a criminal sentenced to life in prison while looking up to the sun and thinking under the bars—— The murders committed by the prisoners once shocked the whole of Italy (Di Paolo reported on a series of such prisoners at the time), or it could be one of Italy's most famous male stars, Marcello Mastroianni, sipping coffee alone in the morning light through the high windows of the restaurant . Di Paolo himself did not remember the conditions under which he took these images, but if we juxtapose the photos, we will find that Di Paolo captured a very rare moment: the former means the loneliness of the imprisoned, and the latter represents the multitude. Adored by fans, but equally lonely.

Besides Italy, Di Paolo traveled to New York, Moscow and Japan. In a fishing village in Japan, he was greeted by a group of smiling elementary school students. He stayed in Japan for a month and visited Japan's rapidly changing society after the war. The fishing villages represented Japan in the old era; Di Paolo also photographed the geisha school, sumo wrestling, martial arts, and the industry of the new era.

In 1963, Di Paolo came to Los Angeles to visit the famous movie "Italian Divorce". At that time, Hitchcock had just completed his world-famous thriller "The Birds" and was preparing to leave Los Angeles for the Cannes Film Festival to promote "The Birds" in Europe.Although the image is a bit blurry due to low light, Di Paolo managed to shoot it from the side, paying homage to the iconic silhouette of the master's body that appeared in his suspense series "Hitchcock Theater ", his famous profile Portraits.

The most rare thing is that Di Paolo's talent was valued by the Italian geek director Pier Paolo Pasolini, making him the only photographer to shoot stills for the movie "The Gospel of Matthew". Paolo Pasolini even got into his car, and the two of them drove all the way from Rome to the south along the seaside. They visited the summer resort beaches and took many photos that reflected the life and status of young Italians in 1959. This series of photos Called "The Long Sand Road" by Di Paolo. Among them, he is most proud of a photo that he thinks is perfect: Paolo Pasolini met a boy on a hillside in Rome (Monte Dei Cocci Terracotta Fragments Hillside). The two of them spoke in silence and made eye contact for a while. Later, Paolo Pasolini sits down in the lower right corner of the scene, and the boy walks out of the camera from the left. In the distance between them is the cityscape of Rome down the hillside.

But when Di Paolo brought the pictures back to the magazine for publication, the editor-in-chief said, your photos are too perfect and cannot be published!

In fact, Di Paolo’s documentary and artistic reportage photography was completely in line with the popular photography style at the time. Doesn’t match. The film festival red carpets of that era generated crazy fans and attracted legions of paparazzi, a term famously coined by Fellini for the role of a photojournalist in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita. They frantically track celebrities, use all means to secretly take private photos of celebrities, and sell them to the media at high prices. By 1968, Di Paolo, a documentary photographer who had been focusing on literati and artists, and reporting on farmers and young people, no longer wanted to be misunderstood and was included in this group of uneducated paparazzi. He gave up in frustration. The camera suddenly disappeared from the photography circle.

After retirement, Di Paolo married a female assistant who was twenty years younger than him, and concentrated on researching, writing and publishing historical books. One day twenty years ago, when her daughter Silvia di Paolo was looking for ski equipment in her father's basement, she accidentally discovered several boxes containing great photos and negatives. There were actually 250,000 negatives and samples. She asked her father who took this picture, and he said, "I took it. I used to be a photographer," waving his hands as if they were completely insignificant. But the daughter actually saw the forgotten era that was resurrected in the video - Italy in the post-war period, Rome enjoying the sweet life that had not been completely destroyed by the paparazzi, various wonderful scenes and wonderful portraits... The excited daughter brought I took some photos and went to a bookstore in Milan to show them.

The exhibition is perhaps best known for its images of prominent figures in photography from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as international celebrities from Roman high society. In addition, it presents a glimpse of Italy's rise out of poverty and backwardness in the postwar years. These black-and-white photos document how Italy emerged as a modern nation in a short period of time after two decades of fascism and the devastation of war.

Paolo Di Paolo, who is now in his nineties, is a photographer who has been forgotten for half a century. He was once the main contributor of the famous weekly "World" followed by the literary and artistic elite. He published more than 500 photos in the magazine; Having collaborated with other famous magazines, including "Times", Italy's largest circulation at the time; a large number of never published photos finally see the light of day 50 years later, Paolo Di Paolo will become a legend.

No one can take photos beyond his own knowledge - Xu Xu