Romano Cagnoni was an internationally recognised photographer and one of the most representative of the twentieth century. As stated by the former editor of the Sunday Times, Harold Evans, who in his book Pictures on a Pageincluded Cagnoni alongside other great photographers such as Don Mc Cullin, Eugene Smith and Cartier-Bresson. Famous for his documentation of wars around the globe, his photographs have focused on those affected by these conflicts depicting the human conditions. These photos have been published on the front pages of newspapers and on the covers of the most important European and US magazines, such as Life, Stern, The Observer, Paris Match, The Times, Newsweek, The Sunday Times, Epoca and L’Espresso. Born in Pietrasanta, Tuscany, he began his career earning his living as a photographer along the beaches and the sculpture studios before moving to London in 1958. He was based in London for more than thirty years. During that time, his career as a photo-journalist took a significant step when he met Simon Guttmann, the mentor of Robert Capa, and an intense collaboration was formed. Cagnoni photographed the electoral campaign of Harold Wilson, who would later become the prime minister representing the Labour Party and the funeral of Winston Churchill, thus becoming, deservedly, an esteemed and trusted representative for the major newspapers of that era. Romano Cagnoni was the first independent western photographer to be admitted into North Vietnam along with the journalist James Cameron during the war. He was able to convince Ho Chi Minh to be photographed, earning himself the cover of Life Magazine. During the civil war in Nigeria, he followed the conflict in Biafra, where he produced powerful photos that would be published worldwide securing himself the Overseas Press Award. Together with the writer Graham Greene, Cagnoni documented Allende’s Chile and then the return of Peron in Argentina, followed by the conflicts in Israel, Northern Ireland and Afghanistan. There is no country of human fury in which he has not been deeply involved documenting from within and always with great humanity. Many of these coverages have taken place in highly dangerous countries such as Dakka, which was closed to journalists, during the 1971 war in Bangladesh, in Afghanistan 1980, during the Soviet occupation and in Poland 1981, where he secretly photographed the unapproachable soldiers of the Red Army. In the 1990’s, during the war in the former Yugoslavia, he risked using a large format camera in order to demonstrate the consequences of the battered territory. In 1995 Cagnoni headed to Chechnya with the crazy idea of installing a studio in Grozny to take the portraits of the warriors opposing the Russian army. He does of course succeed in his endeavour. Returning to Tuscany he dedicated his time to quieter productions, but he could always feel the pull of history. In 2015, with the Middle East becoming more and more inflamed, he sets off with his wife Patricia to Kobane, the Syrian city just liberated from ISIS. During his career Romano Cagnoni had 50 solo exhibitions, published 16 books and received many awards. He sadly passed away on the 30thof January 2018.
