Nuorese Cultural DistrictGoffredo Guiso (b. 1924, Nuoro–d. 1983, Nuoro) was an Italian photographer.
Goffredo Guiso
Description
His father Sebastian had studied at the Brera Academy in Milan and then opened the first professional photography studio in Nuoro, becoming a kind of landmark for the area. Goffredo, who grew up surrounded by photography equipment, also had an entrepreneurial spirit and artistic bent.
During the war, he worked from home, making artistic changes to his father’s photographs. Later, he took over the business, particularly after his father was struck by a degenerative disease in 1944, dying from it ten years later. Although Goffredo maintained a certain stylistic continuity with his father’s practice, this shift in management was accompanied by a few changes: while the Guiso studio had been known in the 1940s for official and private portraiture, people came to Goffredo for a new artistic take on themselves, and he developed an innovative portrait style that echoed the allure of television and film sets.
With the exception of his contributions to the magazine Frontiera, edited by Remo Branca, in 1971, Goffredo concentrated artistically on exploring the human face, which he considered as fascinating and mysterious as the landscapes of the Barbagia countryside.
His wife Andreina was his assistant and first model, followed by children, the elderly and young people, both from the Barbagia region and foreigners just passing through. He transformed his sitters into characters with clothing, make-up and changes to their hair, imitating the styles and trends of the past: the classic composure of the 1950s, the dynamism of the 60s and the transgression of the 70s.
Even when his sitters wore traditional costume, Goffredo gave their portraits a painterly, dramatic note that went beyond his father’s pure documentation.