Frank Horvat

A long career spent travelling the world and telling ever-new stories: organised by the Special Superintendency of Rome, the exhibition at the Baths of Caracalla pays tribute to the photographer Frank Horvat, exploring his work through 72 images displayed amongst the monumental ruins of the complex.

Born in 1922 in Abbazia – now Opatija in Croatia – and having lived in Lugano, Milan, London and Paris, Horvat redefined the boundaries of photography by bringing together seemingly opposing worlds. Having risen to fame in the 1950s and 1960s through his fashion photography and work for magazines such as “Vogue” and “Harper’s Bazaar”, over the course of his seventy-year career he tackled social and travel reportages (including for the Magnum agency), landscape photography, portraits, connections with art and digital experimentation with the same freedom and intensity.

The photographs on display are divided into three significant themes. One of the Bath’s hall houses portraits dedicated to the female world, ranging from fashion models – often captured in everyday life and in street photography – to the women featured in photo essays taken from Pakistan to India, from Brazil to Senegal, and from Egypt to Japan. A selection of images comes from photo shoots carried out in Rome in the early 1960s for “Harper’s Bazaar”, featuring famous models of the era alongside figures from the worlds of culture and cinema such as Alberto Moravia and Marcello Mastroianni.

The female figure is also at the heart of the second section: in the series “Vraies Semblances”, Horvat engages in a dialogue with painting, drawing inspiration from the great portraitists of the past. Finally, the last section is dedicated to the “Goethe in Sicily” cycle, produced in the early 1980s. Fascinated by the Greek culture of the temples, by Rococo style and by folk traditions, Horvat focuses on the island’s unmistakable natural beauty and landscapes, engaging with the pages of “Italian Journey” and discovering a profound harmony with the German writer’s Romantic vision.

Photo: Frank Horvat, The Givenchy Hat for “Jardin des Modes”, Paris 1958 © Studio Frank Horvat