Massimo Vitali

This large-format volume, collecting images from 2009 to 2018, is the latest in Steidl’s series publishing the life’s work of Massimo Vitali. Following the first two volumes, published together as Landscape with Figures / Natural Habitats, 1994–2009 in 2011 (and now out of print), Entering a New World presents Vitali’s large-scale color images of humans interacting en masse—both consciously and unconsciously—with their environments.

Whether relaxing beachside, exploring the ruins of the Roman Forum or navigating a crowded shopping promenade, the scenes in these photographs are topographical celebrations and subtle critiques of our changing habits of leisure. The book furthermore traces an important shift in Vitali’s practice: his move from large-format film to medium-format digital.

Born in Como in 1944, Massimo Vitali studied photography at the London College of Printing. Beginning in the 1960s, Vitali worked as a photojournalist, collaborating with magazines and agencies throughout Europe before turning to cinematography for television and cinema in the early 1980s. He eventually returned to still photography as an artist, taking up large-format photography in 1993 and beginning his famous Beach Series in 1995. Steidl has published Vitali’s Landscape with Figures (2004) and Landscape with Figures / Natural Habitats, 1994–2009 (2011).

After nearly 30 years working in large-format photography, Massimo Vitali (born 1944), famed for his images of beaches and discos, brings together his 12 "best" photographs in a beautiful volume. Vitali began his career as a photojournalist in the 1960s, collaborating with magazines and agencies throughout Europe, before turning to cinematography for television and cinema in the early '80s. He eventually returned to still photography as an artist, taking up large-format photography in 1993 and beginning his famous Beach Series in 1995.

The selection of just 12 works gathered for this volume was made following many lengthy conversations with collaborators and curators who know his work deeply. These works are not necessarily his best-known pieces; rather each one speaks to a particular moment of his artistic research, like short stories of a long career.