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Carrara, Alfonso (Photographer/Author) & Berlanga, Paul (Contributor) : Alfonso Carrara Happenchance: World War Ii Photographs Italian Campaign 1942-1945

Italian Cultural Institute, Chicago, IL, 2015

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 185 pages. Retrospective collection of photographs. One of the most valuable photographic documents of the 20th century. Limited Edition of 1000 copies. The first and only edition. None of the copies was sold commercially by the Italian Cultural Institute. There is no ISBN. The Limited Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by ICI: Oversize-volume format. Blood-red cloth boards with photographic reproduction pasted in front and white titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs and text by Alfonso Carrara. Essay by Paul Berlanga. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark travelling retrospective exhibition held at the Italian Cultural Institutes of Chicago, San Francisco, and New York in 2015. Presents "Alfonso Carrara Happenchance: World War II Photographs, Italian Campaign 1942-1945". Recently re-discovered photographs of the bloody Italian Campaign that remain mesmerizing in their immediacy and pathos, more than seventy years later. "Everything happened along the way, by chance, to Alfonso Carrara. Barely in his twenties, Carrara, the handsome and gifted son of Italian immigrants, had just moved to California from Chicago, where he had studied at the renowned Chicago Institute of Design. He was suddenly drafted into the Army to serve overseas. Arriving in Italy ahead of the Landing at Anzio, Carrara had the opportunity to witness, and document, the Allied troops' massive effort to dislodge German Nazi and Italian Fascist troops from Europe. Having issues with handling weapons, he will never use them even once, and will spend his time on the Italian Front wearing a camera instead of a weapon. History gave Carrara opportunities that a war reporter would have killed for. On one occasion in 1945, his commander asked him to photograph the bodies of a Fascist leader and his accomplices. It turned out to be the bodies of Il Duce Benito Mussolini, his lover Claretta Petacci, and Achille Starace, Secretary of the Fascist Party" (Publisher's blurb). Upon his return to the United States, Carrara boxed his photographs, forgot about them, and moved on to become an immensely successful and wealthy architect. He worked with Frank Lloyd Wright on the iconic Johnson Wax Building in Racine, Wisconsin. But as happenstance would have it, he will surely be remembered instead (Carrara died in 2012) for these stunning war photographs, a treasure trove of historic value and significance. An absolute "must-have" title for Alfonso Carrara and war photography collectors. This is a copy of the Limited Edition of 1000 copies. It is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on his Contribution by Paul Berlanga. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a valuable photographic document of the 20th century. As far as we know, this is only such signed copy of the Limited Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: None of the copies was sold commercially by the Italian Cultural Institute. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with duotone plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ALFONSO CARRARA TITLE IN OUR CATALOG).

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