ARTISTS
Oliver Galiani, 1917-2002
Oliver Galiani died on November 20, 2002, in Burligame, California at the age of 85. A master craftsman and a photographer`s photographer, Gagliani
Darwin Marable / Afterimage
01 Mar, 2003
Oliver Galiani died on November 20, 2002, in Burligame, California at the age of 85.
A master craftsman and a photographer`s photographer, Gagliani had been photographing for over 50 years and had a strong attraction to the ghost towns of Virginia City and Bodie, Nevada. He magically transformed deteriorating windows, doors, walls and buildings into images resonating with mystery and light.
Born in Placerville, California, where his maternal grandparents were forty-niners, Gagliani grew up in the Italian community of San Francisco. He studied the violin as a child and attended San Francisco State College where he had planned to become a composer.
World War II interrupted his education. In 1945 he saw the Paul Strand Retrospective, 1916-1945 at the San Francisco Museum of Art, an experience that convinced him that photography could also be an art form.
Although mainly self-taught, Gagliani studied briefly with Ansel Adams and Minor White at the California School of Fine Arts and then with Ruth Bernhard. While working as a draftsman for the U.S. Navy, he attended graduate school and was one of the first M.F.A. degree graduates in photography at the California State College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.
In 1954 he was one of the co-founders of the Photographer`s Gallery in San Francisco.
In 1965 he began teaching and conducting workshops and happened to work with Paul Caponigro, Cole Weston and Van Deren Coke. In the late 1960s he was also one of the founding members of San Francisco`s Visual Dialogue Foundation. He kept on visiting and photographing Italy over a period of twenty two years, going from double-exposing, there, film previously exposed in California to taking surprising and memorable portraits of local villagers.
Unassuming and quiet, Gagliani was always generous with his knowledge about photography and he loved teaching. With an impish grin and a twinkle in his eye, he seemed like an ageless sage. John Spence Weir, a colleague, says, "He was an icon of personal devotion to the medium, a master technician, a visionary and a light catcher."
A memorial will be held on Sunday, May 18, 2003, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the California College of Arts and Crafts, 1111 8th Street, San Francisco.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION
DARWIN MARABLE [Edited from a text submitted by Darwin Marable, photo historian, writer, lecturer and curator based in the San Francisco Bay Area.]
COPYRIGHT: Copyright Visual Studies Workshop, Inc. Mar/Apr 2003. Provided by Proquest- CSA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Only fair use as provided by the United States copyright law is permitted.
PROQUEST-CSA, LLC- MAKES NO WARRANTY REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE LICENSED MATERIALS OR ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
A master craftsman and a photographer`s photographer, Gagliani had been photographing for over 50 years and had a strong attraction to the ghost towns of Virginia City and Bodie, Nevada. He magically transformed deteriorating windows, doors, walls and buildings into images resonating with mystery and light.
Born in Placerville, California, where his maternal grandparents were forty-niners, Gagliani grew up in the Italian community of San Francisco. He studied the violin as a child and attended San Francisco State College where he had planned to become a composer.
World War II interrupted his education. In 1945 he saw the Paul Strand Retrospective, 1916-1945 at the San Francisco Museum of Art, an experience that convinced him that photography could also be an art form.
Although mainly self-taught, Gagliani studied briefly with Ansel Adams and Minor White at the California School of Fine Arts and then with Ruth Bernhard. While working as a draftsman for the U.S. Navy, he attended graduate school and was one of the first M.F.A. degree graduates in photography at the California State College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.
In 1954 he was one of the co-founders of the Photographer`s Gallery in San Francisco.
In 1965 he began teaching and conducting workshops and happened to work with Paul Caponigro, Cole Weston and Van Deren Coke. In the late 1960s he was also one of the founding members of San Francisco`s Visual Dialogue Foundation. He kept on visiting and photographing Italy over a period of twenty two years, going from double-exposing, there, film previously exposed in California to taking surprising and memorable portraits of local villagers.
Unassuming and quiet, Gagliani was always generous with his knowledge about photography and he loved teaching. With an impish grin and a twinkle in his eye, he seemed like an ageless sage. John Spence Weir, a colleague, says, "He was an icon of personal devotion to the medium, a master technician, a visionary and a light catcher."
A memorial will be held on Sunday, May 18, 2003, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the California College of Arts and Crafts, 1111 8th Street, San Francisco.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION
DARWIN MARABLE [Edited from a text submitted by Darwin Marable, photo historian, writer, lecturer and curator based in the San Francisco Bay Area.]
COPYRIGHT: Copyright Visual Studies Workshop, Inc. Mar/Apr 2003. Provided by Proquest- CSA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Only fair use as provided by the United States copyright law is permitted.
PROQUEST-CSA, LLC- MAKES NO WARRANTY REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE LICENSED MATERIALS OR ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
