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	'''Robert Polidori''' (1951) is a Canadian-American photographer known for large-scale, color images of architecture and urban environments. Recognized for his documentation of disrupted human habitats, Polidori was awarded the 2006 ] for his book on New Orleans ''After the Flood'' and the 2008 ] Prix de la Photographie for his book on Château de Versailles reconstruction ''Parcours Muséologique Revisité''. He was awarded the 1998 ] Award for Art and the 1999 and 2000 ] Award for Magazine Photography (Architecture).<ref name=Houk1>"Gallery Artists: Robert Polidori." ''Edwynn Houk Gallery''. </ref> His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the ] (New York), ], ] museum (Berlin), and ] (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro).<ref name=CV>Robert Polidori CV. "RobertPolidori.com". </ref> His photographs are also included in the collections of the ] (New York), ], ] (Los Angeles), ] (London), ], ] (Paris), and ] (Paris).<ref name=Houk1/>		'''Robert Polidori''' (1951) is a Canadian-American photographer known for large-scale, color images of architecture and urban environments. Recognized for his documentation of disrupted human habitats, Polidori was awarded the 2006 ] for his book on New Orleans ''After the Flood'' and the 2008 ] Prix de la Photographie for his book on Château de Versailles reconstruction ''Parcours Muséologique Revisité''. He was awarded the 1998 ] Award for Art and the 1999 and 2000 ] Award for Magazine Photography (Architecture).<ref name=Houk1>"Gallery Artists: Robert Polidori." ''Edwynn Houk Gallery''. </ref> His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the ] (New York), ], ] museum (Berlin), and ] (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro).<ref name=CV>Robert Polidori CV. "RobertPolidori.com". </ref> His photographs are also included in the collections of the ] (New York), ], ] (Los Angeles), ] (London), ], ] (Paris), and ] (Paris).<ref name=Houk1/>

	Polidori is described by Stephen Wallis in '']'' as one of "most esteemed practitioners of large-scale photography" who brings "a sharp aesthetic eye to documentary images that thoughtfully address issues of historical, socioeconomic and ecological consequence."<ref name=WSJ>Wallis, Stephen. "Edward Burtynsky and Robert Polidori’s Shared Visions." ''Wall Street Journal: WSJ. Magazine'', 12 Sep. 2016. </ref> His subjects include the architectural beauty of ] or ], urban sprawl in ], ], or ], as well as images documenting natural or man-made disasters from post-Hurricane Katrina ] to ] or war-torn ].<ref name=domus>Zamponi, Beatrice. "Robert Polidori." ''Domas Italiano'', 18 Nov. 2016. </ref> Often of unoccupied rooms, Jeff L. Rosenheim, curator of the ]'s ''After the Flood'' exhibition, wrote: "The pictures succeed because, in part, Polidori eschewed nostalgia for something far more complex — the poignancy of absence."<ref>Rosenheim, Jeff L. "Essay." ''After the Flood'', Steidl. 2006. Print.</ref> At the time of the ] retrospective exhibition in 2009, curator Paulette Gagnon described his work as a "photographic account that invites us to share the historical moments it portrays, making them part of the collective memory."<ref name=Mtl>Gagnon, Paulette. "Sounding Reality." Translated by Judith Terry. ''Robert Polidori''. Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal/Steidl, 2009. pp. 1-7. Print.</ref>		Polidori is described by Stephen Wallis in '']'' as one of "most esteemed practitioners of large-scale photography" who brings "a sharp aesthetic eye to documentary images that thoughtfully address issues of historical, socioeconomic and ecological consequence."<ref name=WSJ>Wallis, Stephen. "Edward Burtynsky and Robert Polidori’s Shared Visions." ''Wall Street Journal: WSJ. Magazine'', 12 Sep. 2016. </ref> His subjects include the architectural beauty of ] or ], urban sprawl in ], ], or ], as well as images documenting natural or man-made disasters from post-Hurricane Katrina ] to ] or war-torn ].<ref name=domus>Zamponi, Beatrice. "Robert Polidori." ''Domas Italiano'', 18 Nov. 2016. </ref> At the time of the ] retrospective exhibition in 2009, curator Paulette Gagnon described his work as a "photographic account that invites us to share the historical moments it portrays, making them part of the collective memory."<ref name=Mtl>Gagnon, Paulette. "Sounding Reality." Translated by Judith Terry. ''Robert Polidori''. Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal/Steidl, 2009. pp. 1-7. Print.</ref>

	==Life and ~~career~~==		== Life and Career ==
			Born in ], ], ], in 1951, Polidori moved to the United States at age 10 and, as a youth, lived in ], ], and ].<ref name=Foto2> Siemens, Von Jochen. "When buildings start to tell a story.''Fotografic Portfolio #41'', 2010, pp. 4-8. Print.</ref> Inspired by ]'s avant-garde '']'', in 1969 he moved to New York City to study film making.<ref name=Foto2/> There he was hired by the legendary ] as his assistant at the ].<ref name=Houk1/> During this time, Polidori exhibited at the Whitney Museum of Art in 1975, completed four experimental films, and, in 1980, graduated with a Masters of Arts in film from State University of New York (Buffalo). First introduced to still photography within the film-making process, in 1982 he purchased a large-format camera and,<ref name=Foto2/> interested in rooms as "metaphors for human frailty",<ref name=bomb>Gerber Klein, Michèle. "Artists in Conversation: Robert Polidori." ''Bomb Magazine'', 99, Spring 2007. </ref> photographed abandoned and apartments on New York's Lower East Side.<ref name=CommonE>Pedersen, Martin C. "Robert Polidori on Making Pictures, DIY Cities, and the Pull of India." ''CommonEdge'', 15 Sep. 2016. </ref> In 1983 he moved to Paris and, inspired by ]' '']'' and how photography can serve memory, Polidori began to document the restoration of Château de Versailles.<ref name=bomb/> Increasing known for his architectural photographs, Polidori accompanied architectural writer ] to Cuba to photograph Havana’s architectural heritage for the '']'' magazine.<ref>Polidori, Robert. ''Havana''. Steidl, 2002.</ref> In 1998 he joined ''The New Yorker'' as a staff photographer and images from the Cuban series were later published in the book ''Havana'' (2002). Increasingly interested in inhabitant- or "auto-constructed" urban growth, Polidori photographed Brasilia, Dubai, and Mumbai.<ref name=CommonE/> In May 2001, he photographed the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant and nearby ghost town of Pripyat, Ukraine, and these images were later published as ''Zones of Exclusion – Pripyat and Chernobyl'' (2004).<ref>Polidori, Robert. ''Zones of Exclusion – Pripyat and Chernobyl''. Steidl, 2004.</ref>
	Polidori was born in 1951 in Montreal, Canada, to a French Canadian mother and a Corsican father. He moved to the United States when he was ten and arrived in New York in 1969, where he got a job as an assistant to a filmmaker ] at the ], producing a number of ] films in the early 1970s. In 1980 he received an M.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and subsequently turned his attention to still photography.

			In 2002 Polidori was described by Martin C. Pedersen, editor of '']'' as "a keen observer of the built world".<ref>Pedersen, Martin C. "Robert Polidari's Metropolis." ''Robert Polidari's Metropolis,'' 2004, p5. Print.</ref> Commissioned to photograph Detroit's Michigan Central Station, the magazine later published his urban images as ''Robert Polidori's Metropolis'' (2005). As staff photographer for ''The New Yorker'' Polidori photographed damaged homes and buildings in New Orleans in the wake of ] in 2005 and continued to document the city's restoration. Published as ''After the Flood'' (2006), an exhibition of these images at the ] (New York), became the "most attended photography show in the history of the Met".<ref name=bomb/> Exhibitions of ''After the Flood'' were also mounted in London, Venice, and Toronto, as well as in New Orleans.<ref name=CV/> During this time, Polidori continued to document the restoration of ], and these photographs, published in the three-volume ''Parcour Muséologique Revisité'' (2009), were included in his retrospective exhibition at the ].<ref name=Mtl/> In 2010 he photographed the damaged rooms of Beirut's famous Hotel Petra, abandoned during Lebanon’s civil war.<ref name=domus/> The following year, Polidori traveled to Paris where he photographed the stored art collection of the fashion designer ] prior to auction at the ].<ref name=ground>"An interview with Robert Polidori." ''The Ground'', #02, 2 Nov. 2012. </ref> He also photographed the fashion label Bottega Veneta's fall 2011 campaign at the ] in Venice.<ref>"The Collaborations: Robert Polidori." ''Bottega Veneta''. </ref> In 2012 Polidori exhibited with his mentor Jonas Mekas at Edwynn Houk Gallery (New York).<ref name=Houk2>"Jonas Mekas / Robert Polidori: Portraits." ''Edwynn Houk Gallery''. 2012. </ref> His 2016 solo exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery (New York) included composite murals of Mumbai.<ref name=CommonE/>
	Polidori has been living in ] and ] since 1987. He is listed as a staff photographer with '']'' magazine and makes frequent contributions to other magazines such as '']''. In 2009 Polidori became an American citizen.

			Throughout his career, Polidori worked as a magazine photographer for '']'', ''Condé Nast Traveler'', '']'', ''Wallpaper'',<ref name=Houk2/> and, from 1998 to 2006, was staff photographer for '']''. In 2010 he obtained American citizenship and, in 2016, lived in California.<ref name=CV/>

	==Equipment==		==Equipment==

Revision as of 19:17, 17 February 2017

Robert Polidori
Born	1951 (age 73–74) Montreal, Quebec
Nationality	Canadian-American
Known for	Photography
Awards	Liliane Bettencourt Prix de la Photographie (2008), Deutscher Fotobuchpreis (2006), Alfred Eisenstadt Award for Magazine Photography (1999, 2000), World Press Award for Art (1998)
Website	robertpolidori.com

Robert Polidori (1951) is a Canadian-American photographer known for large-scale, color images of architecture and urban environments. Recognized for his documentation of disrupted human habitats, Polidori was awarded the 2006 Deutscher Fotobuchpreis for his book on New Orleans After the Flood and the 2008 Liliane Bettencourt Prix de la Photographie for his book on Château de Versailles reconstruction Parcours Muséologique Revisité. He was awarded the 1998 World Press Photo Award for Art and the 1999 and 2000 Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography (Architecture). His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Martin-Gropius-Bau museum (Berlin), and Instituto Moreira Salles (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). His photographs are also included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), New Orleans Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Château de Versailles, Centre Pompidou (Paris), and Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris).

Polidori is described by Stephen Wallis in The Wall Street Journal as one of "most esteemed practitioners of large-scale photography" who brings "a sharp aesthetic eye to documentary images that thoughtfully address issues of historical, socioeconomic and ecological consequence." His subjects include the architectural beauty of Château de Versailles or Havana, urban sprawl in Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, or Amman, as well as images documenting natural or man-made disasters from post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans to Chernobyl or war-torn Beirut. At the time of the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal retrospective exhibition in 2009, curator Paulette Gagnon described his work as a "photographic account that invites us to share the historical moments it portrays, making them part of the collective memory."

Life and Career

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1951, Polidori moved to the United States at age 10 and, as a youth, lived in Seattle, New Orleans, and Yellow Springs, Ohio. Inspired by Michael Snow's avant-garde Wavelength (1967 film), in 1969 he moved to New York City to study film making. There he was hired by the legendary Jonas Mekas as his assistant at the Anthology Film Archives. During this time, Polidori exhibited at the Whitney Museum of Art in 1975, completed four experimental films, and, in 1980, graduated with a Masters of Arts in film from State University of New York (Buffalo). First introduced to still photography within the film-making process, in 1982 he purchased a large-format camera and, interested in rooms as "metaphors for human frailty", photographed abandoned and apartments on New York's Lower East Side. In 1983 he moved to Paris and, inspired by Frances Yates' The Art of Memory and how photography can serve memory, Polidori began to document the restoration of Château de Versailles. Increasing known for his architectural photographs, Polidori accompanied architectural writer Paul Goldberger to Cuba to photograph Havana’s architectural heritage for the The New Yorker magazine. In 1998 he joined The New Yorker as a staff photographer and images from the Cuban series were later published in the book Havana (2002). Increasingly interested in inhabitant- or "auto-constructed" urban growth, Polidori photographed Brasilia, Dubai, and Mumbai. In May 2001, he photographed the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant and nearby ghost town of Pripyat, Ukraine, and these images were later published as Zones of Exclusion – Pripyat and Chernobyl (2004).

In 2002 Polidori was described by Martin C. Pedersen, editor of Metropolis (architecture magazine) as "a keen observer of the built world". Commissioned to photograph Detroit's Michigan Central Station, the magazine later published his urban images as Robert Polidori's Metropolis (2005). As staff photographer for The New Yorker Polidori photographed damaged homes and buildings in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and continued to document the city's restoration. Published as After the Flood (2006), an exhibition of these images at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), became the "most attended photography show in the history of the Met". Exhibitions of After the Flood were also mounted in London, Venice, and Toronto, as well as in New Orleans. During this time, Polidori continued to document the restoration of Château de Versailles, and these photographs, published in the three-volume Parcour Muséologique Revisité (2009), were included in his retrospective exhibition at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. In 2010 he photographed the damaged rooms of Beirut's famous Hotel Petra, abandoned during Lebanon’s civil war. The following year, Polidori traveled to Paris where he photographed the stored art collection of the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent prior to auction at the Grand Palais. He also photographed the fashion label Bottega Veneta's fall 2011 campaign at the Palazzo Papadopoli in Venice. In 2012 Polidori exhibited with his mentor Jonas Mekas at Edwynn Houk Gallery (New York). His 2016 solo exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery (New York) included composite murals of Mumbai.

Throughout his career, Polidori worked as a magazine photographer for Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveler, Newsweek, Wallpaper, and, from 1998 to 2006, was staff photographer for The New Yorker. In 2010 he obtained American citizenship and, in 2016, lived in California.

Equipment

For aerial photographs, Polidori uses a large format custom-designed Kipp Wettstein camera to record his photographs.

Works

Polidori's works have been seen in many mediums, from the New Yorker to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The high level of detail allows the viewer to question things more and more as well as still be touched by the mood of the works. Due to the nature of the modern camera lens, the analytical sense of his images comes from the pre-Renaissance and Renaissance perspectives.

When images are soft, they just remain evocative, or in your imagination. You get a mood, and it remains on the emotional level. The viewer has to put more of him or herself into it. When there is more detail, it’s like that old expression: There’s no fiction stranger than reality. Reality will compose the most extreme paradoxes and contradictions and adjacencies, which can’t be understood.

Commissioned by Italian luxury label Bottega Veneta, Polidori undertook his first ever fashion shoot and photographed models Isabeli Fontana and Nicolas Ripoll for the brand’s fall 2011 campaign, portrayed against the background of the 16th century Palazzo Papadopoli, on Venice’s Grand Canal.

Exhibitions and Collections

His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Martin Groius Bau Museum (Berlin) and the Instituto Moreira Salles (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). His work has also been shown in private galleries around world including the Edwynn Houk Gallery (Zurich and New York), Paul Kasmin Gallery (New York), Fontana Gallery (Amsterdam), Galerie Karsten Greve (Paris), Flowers Gallery (London), Nicholas Metivier Gallery (Toronto), Galerie de Bellefeuille (Montreal) and Galleria Carla Sozzani (Milan and Seoul).)

His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), New Orleans Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), The J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Musée d’art contemporain (Montreal), Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Château de Versailles, The Centre Pompidou (Paris), Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), Martin Groius Bau Museum (Berlin), and Instituto Moreira Salles (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). His photographs are also in university collections including Princeton University, Yale University (New Haven), and New York University (New York).)

Controversy

While much of Polidori's work is seen as straightforward architectural and urban photography, some of it has aroused controversy in blogs, especially his photographs taken in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A photograph of a dead victim in his own bed is strongly criticized by New Orleans photographer William Greiner. And further controversy arose in both the New Orleans press as well as a number of photo commentary blogs, when a number of his photographs of Katrina devastation were used commercially in an antismoking campaign in Brazil.

Awards

Polidori has twice been awarded the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography (1999 and 2002), and won the World Press Award for his coverage of the Getty Museum's construction in 1998.

Books

EYE and I (2014) 160pp
Chronophagia (2014) 228pp
Points Between... Up Till Now (2010) 192pp
Parcours Muséologique Revisité (2009) 744pp
After the Flood (2006) 333pp
Fotografie: Portfolio (2006)
Metropolis (2005) 128pp
Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat and Chernobyl (2003) 112pp
Havana (2001) 160pp
Palm Springs Weekend: The Architecture and Design of a Midcentury Oasis (2001)
The Levant: History and Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean by Pierre-Louis Gatier, Robert-Louis Gatier, Eric Gubel, and Philippe Marquis (2000)
Brasilia de 0 a 40 anos by Todd Eberle, Joaquim Paiva, and Robert Polidori (2000)
Libya: The Lost Cities of the Roman Empire by Antonio Di Vita, Ginette Divita-Evrard, Lidiano Bacchielli, and Robert Polidori (1999)
Chateaux of the Loire Valley by Jean-Marie Perouse De Montclos and Robert Polidori (1997)
Sites Greco-Romaines de la Triploitane et Cyrenaique (1997)
Versailles by Robert Polidori and Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos (1991)

Solo public exhibitions

Polidori's photographs have been shown in a number of galleries, including the Edwynn Houk, Pace/McGill and Robert Miller Galleries in New York City, Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin, Flowers-East in London, several in Paris, Sundaram Tagore Gallery , Mary Boone Gallery , the Erie Art Museum and many others.

Notes

^ "Gallery Artists: Robert Polidori." Edwynn Houk Gallery. Web.
^ Robert Polidori CV. "RobertPolidori.com". Web. Cite error: The named reference "CV" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
Wallis, Stephen. "Edward Burtynsky and Robert Polidori’s Shared Visions." Wall Street Journal: WSJ. Magazine, 12 Sep. 2016. Web.
^ Zamponi, Beatrice. "Robert Polidori." Domas Italiano, 18 Nov. 2016. Web.
^ Gagnon, Paulette. "Sounding Reality." Translated by Judith Terry. Robert Polidori. Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal/Steidl, 2009. pp. 1-7. Print.
^ Siemens, Von Jochen. "When buildings start to tell a story.Fotografic Portfolio #41, 2010, pp. 4-8. Print.
^ Gerber Klein, Michèle. "Artists in Conversation: Robert Polidori." Bomb Magazine, 99, Spring 2007. Web.
^ Pedersen, Martin C. "Robert Polidori on Making Pictures, DIY Cities, and the Pull of India." CommonEdge, 15 Sep. 2016. Web.
Polidori, Robert. Havana. Steidl, 2002.
Polidori, Robert. Zones of Exclusion – Pripyat and Chernobyl. Steidl, 2004.
Pedersen, Martin C. "Robert Polidari's Metropolis." Robert Polidari's Metropolis, 2004, p5. Print.
"An interview with Robert Polidori." The Ground, #02, 2 Nov. 2012.
"The Collaborations: Robert Polidori." Bottega Veneta. Web.
^ "Jonas Mekas / Robert Polidori: Portraits." Edwynn Houk Gallery. 2012. Web.
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/the-critics/robert-polidoris-photographs-of-the-palace-of-versailles/1947364.article
^ Robert Ayers (September 23, 2006), Robert Polidori, ARTINFO, retrieved 2008-04-28
Luisa Zargani (June 22, 2011), Memo Pad: Bottega Veneta Taps Robert Polidori Women's Wear Daily.
William Greiner, "What’s Wrong With This Picture?" Greiner's blog, 22 September 2006.
"Outdoor Lions Winners 2007", describing the ads; "Polidori Katrina Photos Used in Anti-Smoking Campaign?" (blog entry); Amy Stein, "National disaster as visual metaphor" (blog entry); "Robert Polidori's Katrina/Stop Smoking Ads" (blog entry); "What Are You Smoking"(blog entry); "Robert Polidori defends his post-K decisions - Times-Picayune".

External links

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