Roberto Donetta
Roberto Donetta (born June 7, 1865 in Biasca ; died September 6, 1932 in Corzoneso ) was a Swiss photographer.
Life
Roberto Donetta came from a small family and was one of four children of Carlo and Maria Donetta and grew up in the Blenio Valley . In 1886 he married Teodolinda Tinetti from Biasca, with whom he had seven children. From 1889 Donetta worked as a chestnut seller in Asti in northern Italy for three years during the winter months . For a short time he worked in Castro as a military officer and community secretary. In 1892 he opened a grocery store in Corzoneso, which he only ran for half a year. In 1894 he went to London for a year as a migrant worker . After that he was a peddler of vegetable and flower seeds. From 1900 onwards, guided by the sculptor Diongini Sorgesa , he also devoted himself to photography and worked as a traveling photographer in the Blenio Valley.
Donetta moved back to Casserio in 1901. In 1912 his wife and children left him to find a less poor life in the canton capital of Bellinzona . He was considered an eccentric and was called Vagabondo . He died in great poverty in the Casa Rotonda in Casserio. Donetta did not have her own studio. He went through the valley with a plate camera , photographed everyday life, families, work, weddings and funerals, and made postcards. For his recordings he used glass plates in the formats 9 × 12, 13 × 18 and 18 × 24.
At the end of the 1970s, 5,000 exposed glass plates and 600 original prints , some in poor condition, were discovered in the roof of the rectory and the parish hall. The Archivio Donetta has been located in Casserio in the Casa Rotonda Donetta since 2003 .
reception
Roberto Donetta is the central figure in Beat Hüppin's novel "Donetta, the light painter ".
literature
- Matthias Böhni: From the time of disappointed hopes. The Ticino traveling photographer and seed seller Roberto Donetta (1865–1932). In: Photo history. Contributions to the history and aesthetics of photography , Marburg, issue 90, 2003, pp. 11–20.
- Daniele Muscionico: Roberto Donetta in the Swiss Photo Foundation - The photographer's fantastic theater . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 4, 2016, p. 29
- Claudia Schumacher: Chocolate girl. In: Die Weltwoche , May 25, 2016
Exhibition catalogs (selection)
- Museo Cantonale d'Arte , Lugano (Ed.): Roberto Donetta. Pioneers della fotografia nel Ticino di inizio secolo. Milan 1993.
- Swiss Photo Foundation : Roberto Donetta - photographer and seed dealer from the Blenio Valley. Exhibition Winterthur 2016. Limmat, Zurich 2016.
Web links
- Literature by and about Roberto Donetta in the bibliographic database WorldCat
- Donetta, Roberto. In: Sikart
- Donetta archive
- Roberto Donetta, one of the greats. In: Tessiner Zeitung , October 9, 2015
- Roberto Donetta (1865–1932): come una biografia. In: Swiss Society for Art History (Ed.): Art + Architecture in Switzerland , Vol. 51, Issue 4, 2000, pp. 22-27. doi : 10.5169 / seals394161
- Roberto Donetta , at Memoriav
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dates of birth here after the wedding announcement 1886, in Matthias Böhni, p. 19, fn. 11
- ↑ Roberto Donetta , at foto-ch
- ^ Roberto Donetta , at ticinarte.ch
- ↑ Sorgesa, Diongini. In: Sikart
- ↑ Casa Rotonda Donetta (photo) , at ti.ch
- ↑ Beat Hüppin: Donetta, the light painter . Zytglogge Verlag, Basel 2018, ISBN 3-7296-0992-0 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Donetta, Roberto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 7, 1865 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Biasca |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 6, 1932 |
| Place of death | Corzoneso |