Un fotoreporter per l’arte contemporanea: gli esordi romani di Plinio De Martiis

The essay examines the early work of Plinio De Martiis as an indepen- dent photojournalist (1950-1952) and a member of the Collettivo Fo- tografi Associati in Rome (1952-1953), before he moved on to start his renowned art gallery La Tartaruga in 1954. Based on his photographic archive at the Archivio dello Stato di Latina and a collection of prints in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, this study offers a phil- ological analysis and a deciphering of the photographer’s complex ar- chival “system”, with particular attention to his collaboration with the weekly magazine “Il Mondo”, his portraits of Italian artist Mario Mafai, and a reportage on the Picasso exhibition held in Rome in 1953.