Gabriele Basilico's ironic nightclub photos published after 45 years

A previously unknown series of ironic photographs by Gabriele Basilico, taken in Milanese variety theaters and nightclubs in the 1970s, has been published as the book "Non recensiti" by Humboldt Books, 45 years after they were made. The project began in 1976 when Basilico was commissioned to photograph the Grand Hotel in Rimini and also shot at the adjacent Lady Godiva club. The images, which show performers in outdated costumes, were forgotten in a studio storage room and rediscovered during the pandemic. The book includes a conversation between Basilico and Spanish photographer Ximo Berenguer, transcribed by Joan Fontcuberta, where Basilico states: "When I photograph people, I keep in mind that bodies have an architecture, just as buildings have an anatomy." Berenguer, whom Wikipedia lists as having died in a car accident in 1978, is shown in a 1980 photo queuing to show his portfolio to Jean-Claude Lemagny in Arles. The volume was edited by Alberto Saibene and includes text by Giovanna Calvenzi, Basilico's widow and archive director. The work reveals a humorous side of the photographer, who lamented that both the art world and photography have "completely exiled laughter."