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The Art Kane retrospective. Visionary, produced by the Made in Cloister Foundation and Wall Of Sound Gallery, collects one hundred photographs, some of which are very famous, others unpublished, which tell the visual imagery of the second half of the 20th century. These are the iconic shots of Art Kane, the American photographer who with his gaze has reinvented and redefined the canons of portrait, fashion photography, advertising, capturing in a surprising and revolutionary way key figures of art, culture and music.

Art Kane was a bit of an alchemist and a bit of a shaman, with his mysterious ability to govern and place different elements such as nature, weather, light, matter and people at the service of his creativity. And when nature wasn't enough, he created the right realities and techniques to tell his stories.

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Endowed with unstoppable creativity, Art Kane was the forerunner of numerous concepts in modern photography, making everyone else eat the dust. Enigmatic, confident and incredibly disciplined, he was proud of his achievements, yet he was paradoxically contemptuous of his archive and his future. All his creative tension was always focused on the next shooting, on how to evolve, change perspective, raise the bar and accept nothing less than genius. Always ruthlessly critical of his own work, he filled baskets with scraps for which most photographers would have given their lives. For this not many alternative shots remain. The second choice was not a viable option for Art Kane.

In the turbulent cultural climate of the 1960s, Art Kane's photographic reports on social issues such as civil rights, war, apartheid, the environment, possessed the ability to inform, educate and even change people's minds with sharp hardness of a single image.  

The exhibition is made up of several sections. The one dedicated to music collects the photos taken by Kane of the greatest icons of rock of the 60s and jazz of the 50s. Another section, equally rich, deals in a visionary way, also thanks to innovative combinations and  layering of images, social and political themes, crossing some of the issues that have profoundly marked American society and beyond, such as the struggle for civil rights of African Americans and American Indians, religious fundamentalism, Vietnam, nuclear nightmare of Hiroshima, the first steps of environmental awareness and a critique of consumerism. Finally, a section is dedicated to the story of the changes in American society, through costume, fashion, advertising and eroticism.

Among his most famous images, exhibited in the permanent collections of many museums including the MoMA and the Metropolitan of New York, the timeless icons of music stand out, from the Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan, The Who, Jim Morrison and The Doors, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Frank Zappa & Mothers of Invention, Cream with Eric Clapton, Sonny & Chér, Johnny Winter, Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Lester Young.

But Kane is universally known for "Harlem 1958", the shot of August 12, 1958 in which he immortalized 57 jazz legends grouped in Harlem, NYC, on the sidewalk in front of 17 East 126th Street, creating the most significant image in history. of Jazz. This photo earned him a gold medal from the Art Directors Club of New York.

Art Kane. Visionary inaugurates a multi-year cycle of exhibitions dedicated to great Italian and international photography, curated by Guido Harari, which the Made in Cloister project will hold inside the Cloister of Santa Caterina in Formiello with the participation of DOMORI as official partner.

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Official partner : DOMORI

In collaboration with : Napoli Teatro Festival

                     Leica

                     Municipality of Naples Department of Culture