Gabriele Basilico

Gabriele Basilico (12 August 1944 – 13 February 2013) was an Italian photographer who defined himself as "a measurer of space".[1]

Born in Milan, Italy in 1944, he originally studied to become an architect before pursuing a career in photography. His initial works focused around reportage[2], but he later shifted his focus to architectural photography due to the influence of his previous studies in architecture. He was interested on ladscape photography and, especially, on the representation ot the city. He achieved international fame in 1982 with his photographic report on the industrial areas of Milan, "Ritratti di Fabbriche, Sugarco".[3]

Basilico's grave at the Monumental Cemetery of Milan in 2015

In the mid-1980s he was part of a group of photographers commissioned by the French Government (DATAR) to document the transformation of the Transalpine landscape.[3]

In 1991 his photographs helped to document the effects of war on the Lebanese capital of Beirut with his celebrated work, "Beirut 1991".[1][3]

He was invited at Biennale di Venezia in 1996 with the exposition Sezioni del paesaggio italiano/Italy. Cross Sections of a Country, in collaboration with Stefano Boeri. He received the prize “Osella d'oro” for the contemporary architectural photography. In 1999 he published Interrupted City and Cityscapes, with beyond 300pictures of cities, realised from the '80. Starting from this book he selected a photographic serie exposed at Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, CPF (Centro Portugues de Fotografia) in Porto, MART (Museo d'Arte Moderna di Trento e Rovereto) in Trento, and at MAMBA (Museo de Arte Moderno) in Buenos Aires. In 2000 he worked on the metropolitan area of Berlin, invited by DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst). He received the prize “I.N.U.” (Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica) due his contribute to the documentation of the contemporary urban space.

His last public work was showcased in December 2012, at the inauguration of a new square, Piazza Gae Aulenti, in Milan. The work consisted of a series of photographs that portrayed the Porta Nuova Project from its inception through completion.[4]

The majority of Basilico's work was done using a traditional viewfinder camera and black and white film. He was awarded the Osella d'Oro at the 1996 Venice Biennale.[5]