Born on October 10, 1930, in Santa Margherita Ligure, close to Genoa, Berengo Gardin spent his childhood in Rome, before moving to Venice with his parents after the Second World War. There he became a member of the La Gondola photo club and, in the fifties, he began publishing his first pictures in magazines and launching his career. His primary focus was on humanistic photography in reportage style; and life in Italy – which he mostly captured in analogue black and white – became the central feature. As of 1964, he lived and worked in Milan – for large companies, as well as being a freelance photojournalist. He has been represented by the Contrasto agency since 1990, and his archive is managed by the Fondazione FORMA. His body of work has appeared in over 260 publications and more than 360 solo exhibitions. He was the winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award in 1995, and was inducted into the Leica Hall of Fame in 2017. Gianni Berengo Gardin passed away in Genoa on August 7, 2025.
