Per forza di levare – Sculptor Michelangelo in Photographs From the Alinari Archives

In the year of celebrations for the 550ᵗʰ anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth, the Carrara and Michelangelo (CARMI) museum presents “Per Forza di Levare. Michelangelo scultore nelle fotografie degli Archivi Alinari” (“By Means of Taking Away. Sculptor Michelangelo in Photographs from the Alinari Archives”), an exhibition highlighting the particular glimpses and surprising visual interpretations, the result of Michelangelo’s genius encountering that of photographers, engaged in mapping and communicating Italy’s historical and artistic heritage.

From April 18 to October 26, the exhibit reveals how brothers Alinari, Brogi and Anderson, the great editors of the 19ᵗʰ century, met the challenge of bringing the three-dimensionality of sculpture to photography, immortalizing the masterpieces of the Maestro. A challenge of art standing before art.

The pathway covers 120 years of photography, beginning in 1852, through 70 fine art prints in addition to a small nucleus of original prints from the Alinari Archives. 

Showcasing masterpieces from Florence, Rome, Milan and Paris, the real stars of the exhibition are Carrara and its impressive marble quarries, with images that restore the evocativeness of the landscape and document the techniques of working with marble.