How I shot Carla Fracci
Neapolitan photographer Augusto De Luca became a professional in the mid-70s. He experimented with different photographic materials using traditional techniques. His style is characterised by uncommon camera angles and expressive harmony in the finished shot.
There are a great many photos of Carla Fracci in diaphanous costumes or surrounded by pink pointe shoes and flowers, but De Luca’s striking portrait with a stone lion in high-contrast black and white is a rare addition to the extraordinary quantity of photos of Italy’s most famous ballerina.
But I’ll let the photographer tell the story behind the photo.
Several years have passed, but the memory of that meeting, the memory of that magical moment, will remain with me forever.
It was the early nineties, to be precise 1991, and the book Napoli Donna had recently been released in bookshops, with my portraits of thirty-seven important Neapolitan women, accompanied by interviews with the journalist Giuliana Gargiulo.
Having had notable success with the book, Giuliana and I decided to make another, this time about Milanese women, though a book that for various reasons was never published. We then prepared a list of illustrious names and first on the list was Carla Fracci.
As chance would have it, after less than a month, the beautiful dancer together with her husband Beppe Menegatti came to Naples to visit Giuliana, and I first met her at a dinner in her house.
I suggested that she could participate in the project and she was immediately enthusiastic about it. However, Fracci was only to stay in Naples for a few days, so I had to immediately find a location and, above all, decide how to photograph her. So I began to do some research…. Reading her biography, I saw from her date of birth that her zodiac sign was Leo, a sign that fitted her like a glove! In fact, I had always considered her a very strong woman – a true warrior, both temperamentally and professionally.
I then remembered that at the house of my friend Valeria Carità, in an antique palazzo in Monte di Dio, I had seen a large stone lion. I quickly organised everything and the next day Fracci and I went to that magnificent house. She was beautiful, delicate and ethereal like Chinese porcelain, and wore the beautiful lace dress that you see in the photo. After a few tests and a few shots, I realised that I had found the right photo. I could finally relax. We spent some time chatting and then I accompanied her back.
I saw her again in Milan when she came to one of my photographic exhibitions at Diaframma in via Brera. I gave her the portrait and she immediately said to me, “Bella! And the lion is my zodiac sign.” I knew that I had hit the mark.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
