Galleria Gracis presents OBIETTIVO ARTE POVERA. A Journey Through Art Since 1968, a solo exhibition by photographer Paolo Mussat Sartor (Turin, 1947). Through his lens, Mussat Sartor chronicled the world of Arte Povera and the international avant-garde of modern and contemporary art in the late 1960s and 1970s, offering not merely a visual record but a deeply felt, critical reading, an authentic and vibrant testimony of that heroic era.

The title of the exhibition condenses the key concepts that form the thread of this project. The LENS is both the photographer’s tool and an extension of Mussat Sartor’s gaze—his personal vision of reality. The JOURNEYS evoke his photographic series taken from behind the wheel of his car between the 1970s and 1990s, when he traveled across Europe documenting exhibitions and artists.

On view at Galleria Gracis will be around 30 photographs by Mussat Sartor portraying the leading figures of Arte Povera and their works, including Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Gino De Dominicis, Luciano Fabro, Eliseo Mattiacci, Mario Merz, Jannis Kounellis, Giulio Paolini, Giuseppe Penone, Emilio Prini, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gilberto Zorio, among others—together with an equal number of photographs from the Journeys series. These images will be displayed alongside the works of the very same artists he had portrayed, representing the third pillar of the exhibition: ARTE POVERA itself.

Paolo Mussat Sartor took his first steps as a photographer at Gian Enzo Sperone’s gallery in Turin – his hometown – during its most vibrant years between 1968 and 1975, introduced to the scene by his friend Tucci Russo.

As Andrea Bellini notes in the book Paolo Mussat Sartor. Places of Art and Artists 1968–2008, “the photographer was never drawn to the social or fashionable side of the art world; rather, his curiosity, his eye, and his instinct remained focused on the work itself and on the artist’s language”.

Mussat Sartor avoided using wide-angle lenses; he neither transformed nor judged what he photographed. Perhaps this is why he was able to establish such a profound sense of respect and understanding with the artists he worked with. As he explains: “It was a reasoned kind of photography, one that sought to reflect the idea behind the work. But that applies to all my photographs, from portraits to landscapes. I try to respect the subject; I always seek a dialogue, even if only a mental one, with what I photograph. I try to understand without sensationalizing, without distorting, without pushing beyond.”

For this reason, Galleria Gracis has chosen to display his Arte Povera portraits alongside his Journeys – shown here for the first time – taken mostly with a Minox, the pocket camera he always carried with him. During his long drives across Europe—from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, through Paris and Basel, down to Rome and Bari – he captured objects, moments, weather changes, everything reduced to the essential: fragments of reality he chose to preserve after thoughtful observation and reflection.

Following the success of Unexpected Visions (2023), which showcased his photographs enhanced by painterly interventions, Galleria Gracis is pleased to dedicate a second solo exhibition to Paolo Mussat Sartor, continuing its commitment to deepening and celebrating his artistic language.

Biography

Paolo Mussat Sartor was born in Turin in 1947, where he lives and works.

A self-taught photographer, he began taking pictures in 1966. In 1968, he started collaborating with Gian Enzo Sperone, photographing Italian and international artists who exhibited in the gallery during those years.

He has exhibited and published Portraits of Artists and documentations of artworks in art catalogues and specialized journals worldwide. His collaborations include magazines such as Domus, Abitare, Vogue, Casa Vogue, and Ottagono.

In 1979, Stampatori Editore published Paolo Mussat Sartor Fotografo 1968–1978. Arte e Artisti in Italia, a book documenting ten years of collaboration with major contemporary Italian artists.

Since the 1970s, he has pursued a personal research practice through the photographic medium. From 1985 onwards, he began intervening directly on his photographic prints with pigments and mixed techniques, creating unique pieces.

Recognized as one of the most significant art photographers of the late 20th century, Paolo Mussat Sartor has helped define the visual language through which the history of contemporary art has been seen and remembered. His photographs continue to be exhibited in major international institutions—living testaments to that extraordinary artistic season that began in the 1970s.

Paolo Mussat Sartor

Galleria Gracis opening hours: Monday-Friday, 10AM-1PM | 2-6 PM

Saturday by appointment
Free entrance T +39 02 877 807; gracis@gracis.com

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