POR UNA CABEZA..HORACIO COPPOLA!

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Isabella Cecconi

Have you ever been to Buenos Aires? To me it’s like feeling home. I simply adore this city, giving that I’m more than sure that I was Evita Peron in my previous life or Carlos Gardel, the tango singer. And do you know who Horacio Coppola is? Oh well, you have to. Think about the 30’s. Think about cafes, side streets and neon-lit boulevards of the capital of magnificent Argentina. Think about ordinary objects like a typewriter or a doll, a shop window, a simple man reading a newspaper, a restaurant. Coppola’s photographs of Buenos Aires are a pictorial love letter to his city, demonstrating Argentine metropolis emerging from its grand traditions to embrace modernity either in its street scenes or nocturnal vistas with bars and music halls, trams and all the vibrant and juicy material of his photography. In his 105 years of life (yes sir, I said 105), Coppola has been documenting his city thought superb black and white shots. Mr. Jorge Luis Borges, a friend to Coppola, launched the photographer’s career by using some of his shots to illustrate a book of poet Evaristo Carriego. Born in Aires, to Italian parents, he was the 10^th son of an immigrant couple. All though his long life, Coppola explored many photographic approaches in search of the “magic chiaroscuro”. Coppola’s influences included the modernist movement, architectural angles and shadows and obviously his fascination with cinema. All the shots were executed with a 35mm Leica. Brassai is to Paris like Coppola is to Buenos Aires. Viva Argentina!