Dolce Via

Book excerpt: In his latest collection, Dolce Via, photographer Charles H. Traub brings an American aesthetic to the delights of the streets and byways of Italy. This volume is the first comprehensive compendium of his vivid color photographs made in early 1980s Italy, from Milan to Marsala. Characteristic of Traub's imagery is a candid intimacy that combines humor and spontaneity, which makes us long for an Italy that maybe only once was. Brilliant blues, reds, and yellows engulf the baroque posturing and gestures of strangers and ordinary people who become fond archetypical caricatures. Traub's friend and guide, the late photographer Luigi Ghirri, said of the imagery, "You see our foibles, strip us bare, make love through the camera, and then venerate us." These photographs were last exhibited at the Hudson River Museum, Light Gallery New York, and Gallery Agora in Torino in the mid-1980s. Traub has published seven previous volumes of work including Beach (1977), Italy Observed (1988), and Still Life in America (2004). He is represented by the Gitterman Gallery in New York, has exhibited in 27 solo gallery shows, and his works are in the collection of major museums worldwide. Presently, Traub is Chair of the MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media department at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and President of the Aaron Siskind Foundation.