GABRIELE MARIA PAGNINI EXHIBITED AT PHOTOSQUARE MALPENSA

More than one hundred portraits celebrating the leading figures of culture, art and entertainment of the second half of the twentieth century. The exhibition will close with a finissage event on Thursday, June 11, at Malpensa Airport.
A tribute to an artist who shaped the visual imagination from the 1970s to the beginning of the new millennium. PhotoSquare Malpensa, a venue dedicated to the promotion of photography and visual culture, is hosting an extraordinary exhibition devoted to Gabriele Maria Pagnini, master portrait photographer and creator of some of the most iconic images of the international cultural scene.

On Thursday, June 11, the exhibition will conclude with a finissage featuring more than one hundred portraits of major figures from culture, art, music, cinema and entertainment: Federico Fellini, Andy Warhol, Italo Calvino, Wim Wenders, Roberto Benigni, Dario Fo, David Hockney, Riccardo Muti, Allen Ginsberg, Catherine Deneuve, Luciano Pavarotti, Isabella Rossellini and Jeanne Moreau, to name just a few.
Many of the works on display have been published in the world’s most prestigious magazines, including Vogue (Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), L’Uomo Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Ritz Newspaper, the celebrated magazine directed by David Bailey, the iconic figure of British photography. These images offer a unique overview of editorial portrait photography in the second half of the twentieth century, telling the story of an era through the faces of its protagonists.

A Master of Portraiture
With the training of a photojournalist and the soul of a painter, Gabriele Maria Pagnini developed throughout his career a distinctive and recognizable visual language, combining the lessons of Renaissance painting with modern suggestions reminiscent of Degas’ work.
His photographs, predominantly in black and white, go far beyond the simple representation of the subject: they explore the inner soul of the people portrayed, revealing emotions, fragility and intensity. A true “close encounter” with the camera that captures the hidden truth behind the public figure.
As Federico Zeri wrote, his are “photographs of rare formal strength and even rarer psychological depth… exceptional portraits distinguished by the absolute absence of literary or decorative surrogates.”

An Exhibition Open to Everyone
Installed within the spaces of PhotoSquare Malpensa, the exhibition is accessible not only to passengers traveling through the airport, but also to all visitors wishing to enjoy a cultural experience of exceptional value. A unique opportunity to admire up close the work of one of Italy’s most refined photographers, capable of transforming portraiture into a profound and timeless human narrative.
An exhibition of extraordinary beauty celebrating the talent of a great photographer and offering the public an unparalleled gallery of faces that shaped the history of contemporary culture.

FINISSAGE
Thursday, June 11, 2026 – 5:30 PM - PhotoSquare Milano Malpensa

BIOGRAPHY
Gabriele Maria Pagnini approached photography in 1966 while attending university in Ancona. In 1970 he began working for Il Messaggero on the Ascoli Piceno local pages, the city where he lived before moving to Rome, where he was born in 1946. He subsequently started collaborating with the cultural pages of major newspapers and magazines such as Epoca, Panorama, L’Espresso, Oggi and L’Europeo.
His passion for portraiture led him in the early 1970s to move to Milan, the Italian capital of publishing, where he began an intense and ongoing collaboration with magazines such as Vogue and L’Uomo Vogue, for which he produced around two thousand portraits. In 1990 he moved to New York, where he worked with the Rizzoli Group, particularly for Amica, and with Vanity Fair USA.
Among his numerous solo exhibitions are: Proposte di forma at the Museo di Roma, Palazzo Braschi, 1990, with the IdeaBooks catalogue titled Gabriele Maria Pagnini, ritratti; I protagonisti at Villa Contarini, Piazzola del Brenta (Padua), 1997; Dentro lo sguardo at Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona, 1998; An Inside View at the Italian Cultural Institute in Munich, 1999; and Up Front at the Italian Cultural Institute in Toronto, 2002.
His group exhibitions include: Bellissime (Rome, 1989); 20 Years of Vogue Italia, Sagrato del Duomo, Piazza Duomo, Milan, 1984, where he exhibited one hundred portraits; 1968–1998 Style in Progress. Thirty Years of L’Uomo Vogue, Pitti Immagine Uomo, Stazione Leopolda, Florence, 1998; European Photography Festival (Legnano exhibition, March 16 – April 28, 2019); Segni di Luce, the portraits of Gabriele Maria Pagnini (26th Premio Libero Bizzarri – Documentary Expo, San Benedetto del Tronto, 2019); and Gabriele Maria Pagnini at the European Photography Festival, Palazzo Marliani Cicogna, Busto Arsizio (2024).
His photographs are part of the collections of the Civic Gallery of Modena and the Italian Photographic Archive.

The Italian Photographic Archive (AFI), founded in 2006, has as its primary mission the promotion and dissemination of photography, with a particular focus on the protection, collection and preservation of photographic works, as well as the continuous development of research projects and photographic campaigns aimed at enriching visual, historical and contemporary heritage.
Its collection encompasses a wide range of subjects, including reportage, journalism, geographical and territorial photography, architecture, portraiture, labour and art, connecting the past with the present.
Among AFI’s principal activities are the organization of traveling exhibitions, the publication of high-quality books, and collaborations with public and private institutions, schools and educational bodies to promote photography through educational and training programs. The archive is also committed to promoting photographic collecting and participating in conferences and training initiatives.
In addition to its publishing series, which has exceeded 50 volumes, AFI has established an international reputation, representing Italian photography across Europe and other countries, and organizing major events such as the European Photography Festival, the Archivi Svelati series, and the Photography and Industry program, while also participating in important European art fairs.
AFI is also a fine art printing laboratory appreciated by numerous artists and has collaborated with prestigious institutions such as the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles, Fotofever at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, and several Italian Cultural Institutes throughout Europe.
Its international presence also includes collaboration with Photo Beijing in China since 2017, with the aim of promoting Italian photography in China and Chinese artists in Italy.