Giuseppe Palumbo: Pioneer of Anthropological Photography in Puglia
A retrospective exhibition at the Museo delle Tradizioni Popolari in Rome showcases the black-and-white photography of Giuseppe Palumbo (1889-1959), an early 20th-century Italian photographer who documented the rural life, architecture, and rituals of Puglia and Salento. Palumbo, a cyclist photographer, captured the faces of peasants, women mourners ("chiangimorti"), and megalithic structures, anticipating the ethnographic work of Ernesto de Martino in the 1950s. His images, taken between the 1910s and 1940s, reveal a scientific yet humanistic gaze, focusing on daily labor, magic formulas, and funerary practices. The exhibition, curated by Fabio Petrelli, presents Palumbo as a precursor to Italian visual anthropology, with his work now recognized as a foundational visual record of Southern Italian culture.
Key facts
- Giuseppe Palumbo was born in Calimera in 1889 and died in Lecce in 1959.
- He photographed Puglia and Salento in the early 20th century.
- His work predates Ernesto de Martino's ethnographic studies in Lucania and Puglia.
- Palumbo captured peasants, harvesters, spinners, and 'chiangimorti' (professional mourners).
- He also photographed megalithic and phallic Neolithic architectures later Christianized.
- The exhibition is held at the Museo delle Tradizioni Popolari in Rome.
- The article was written by Fabio Petrelli for Artribune.
- Palumbo's photography is described as having a 'pedagogical power' to teach recent history.
Entities
Artists
- Giuseppe Palumbo
Institutions
- Museo delle Tradizioni Popolari
- Artribune
Locations
- Calimera
- Lecce
- Puglia
- Salento
- Rome
- Lucania