Born in Pistoia, over the course of his long career as a photographer Aurelio Amendola developed a particular sensitivity for the world of sculpture, documenting the work of Jacopo della Quercia, Michelangelo and Donatello, and illustrating individual masterpieces and monuments such as Giovanni Pisano’s pulpit in Pistoia, the della Robbia frieze of the Ospedale del Ceppo, again in Pistoia, Santa Maria della Spina and the Baptistery in Pisa, and St Peter’s in the Vatican.
This last work, the first of a series devoted to the great themes of Italian art seen through the photographer’s personal eye, presents a completely new iconographic campaign, calibrated on the “framing” and specific needs of the project: taking advantage of the rare opportunity of unrestricted access to Bernini’s monuments and, more generally, to the various architectural and sculptural elements that characterise the cathedral — symbol of all Christianity — Amendola manages to capture its most unexpected views and details.
In 1994 his book Un occhio su Michelangelo — devoted to the recently restored Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo in Florence — won the “Oscar Goldoni Prize”. In 1995 an exhibition on this same theme was organised in Milan, at Palazzo Reale, by the City Administration.
In 1997 he was awarded the “Cino da Pistoia” prize, a well-known lifetime achievement award.
Contemporary art is Aurelio’s other great interest; over the years he has built up a veritable gallery of portraits, including the most renowned masters of the 20th century such as De Chirico, Lichtenstein, Pomodoro, Schifano, Kosuth and Warhol, to name but a few. This collection, renewed daily with undiminished passion and constantly updated with the most avant-garde names and trends, takes on a particular cultural and human value thanks to the photographer’s long personal acquaintance with the artists.
Amendola’s work includes numerous monographs devoted to the leading contemporary sculptors and painters, among them those on Marino Marini, Burri, Manzù, Fabbri, Ceroli, Vangi and Kounellis. Some of the Pistoiese master’s most emblematic photographic portraits are on display at the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation.
In 2007 he was the first artist to hold a photographic exhibition at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg; the theme was the sculptural work of Michelangelo Buonarroti.
