Winter 2023

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“5,000 Negatives” Safeguarding the Wulz sisters’ legacy at FAF Above: The digitalisation process of ‘5,000 Negatives’ at Art Defender, October 2023 36 Restoration Conversations • Winter 2023
Like many women artists of centuries past, the Wulz sisters, Wanda (1903-1984) and Marion (1905-1993), followed in their grandfather and fathers’ footsteps (photographers Giuseppe and Carlo Wulz, respectively). Both girls showed precocious talent behind the camera lens, at a time when photography was still largely considered a craft, not an art form in its own right. Often represented as twins, Wanda and Marion were Carlo’s models from the cradle onwards. When his photo-ready babies grew into intriguing young women, Wanda and Marion became two of Carlo’s Three Graces. To say the sisters were photogenic is an understatement. In their household, photography was a game, a constant switching of costumes and scenes, and they had several ‘life-changing’ opportunities to stand behind the camera rather than in front of it. Wanda is celebrated as a top exponent of futurist photography, for her experimental flair and daring overlays, like the ultra-famous Cat and I. Marion, who has become a centre of attention only recently, was interested in photo reportage, capturing historic WWII liberation scenes from the window of the Wulzs’ flat, in the manner of Elizabeth Browning and Casa Guidi Windows. Although Marion produced photography rather than poetry, her historical images were poetic, in their own way. When the sisters took over the family’s successful photography studio in Trieste in 1928, they continued the family’s portraiture business, adding to an exceptional archive that features top figures of their day, from celebrity athletes and entertainers, to nobility and top exponents of fashion and culture. October 2023 marked the start of a new collaborative project called ‘5,000 Negatives’, aimed at safeguarding the sisters’ legacy, through the creation of an inventory and the restoration, digitalisation and improved archive accessibility of the Wulz Photographic Studio Archive of Trieste, a treasure trove of negatives, prints and archival documentation acquired by Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia (FAF) in 1986. This project, developed by FAF, is made possible thanks to a grant from Fondazione CR Firenze and Calliope Arts Foundation. In a recent interview, FAF Director Claudia Baroncini shares the project’s raison d’être. “Photographic archives need to be digitised, in order to preserve captured images, which are extremely fragile. We need to remember that images can actually disappear. They can vanish! Our ambition is to preserve them forever. On another level, digitalisation is important because it allows for accessibility. Let’s face it, negatives are not immediately understandable. They are not readable the way prints are. So on the one hand, digitalisation allows us to faithfully reproduce an object – in this case ‘a negative’ – using technology. But enjoyment is also a critical factor when it comes to preserving culture. Therefore, during the digitalisation process, we transform the negative into its positive image – otherwise, all you would see of the collection are ‘little black stamps’. Cultural preservation is not just about preserving an object, it involves making that object available to the public – and not just to a circle of specialists. This transferral respects and reflects the negatives’ original use. Historically, the purpose of a negative was to be printed in the positive. Analysis and sharing of the positives we acquire is phase two of this project.” Spring / Summer 2023 • Restoration Conversations 37
Page 1 and 2: Restoration Conversations ISSUE 4,
Page 3 and 4: From the Editor Today’s women, fe
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS WINTER 2023 MUSIC AND A VO
Page 7 and 8: Richard agreed to come to her next
Page 9 and 10: From left to right: Top row: Fanny
Page 11 and 12: Left: Winnaretta Singer’s selfpor
Page 13 and 14: organic process to the way we found
Page 15 and 16: The Words We’d Like to Meet Schol
Page 17 and 18: From your description, Smedley’s
Page 19 and 20: and songs for suffrage. Perkins Gil
Page 21 and 22: In explaining how Price went from r
Page 23 and 24: Mendelssohn, was the centrepiece of
Page 25 and 26: “You oughta be in pictures” Ban
Page 27 and 28: Opposite page: Maryla Lednicka-Szcz
Page 29 and 30: Not far away, is another matronly f
Page 31 and 32: Above and right: Woman Sitting on t
Page 33 and 34: What does Eleonora Toledo, a Spanis
Page 35: Fotografico Il Cupolone, whereby th
Page 39 and 40: up’ their sitters, so to speak, w
Page 41 and 42: Opposite page: Trieste: Yugoslavian
Page 43 and 44: Above: A Maria Luisa Raggi tempera
Page 45 and 46: of them young women, with wise hand
Page 47 and 48: Their extreme reactivity is culprit
Page 49 and 50: The Big Reveal Florence exhibition
Page 51 and 52: four centuries ago, the restoration
Page 53 and 54: Above: The Gallery ceiling at Casa
Page 55 and 56: Winter 2023 • Restoration Convers
Page 57 and 58: Left: Buonarroti the Younger’s ac
Page 59 and 60: Opposite page: ‘Artemisia UpClose
Page 61 and 62: Opposite page: A happy group of fri
Page 63 and 64: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker Lavinia F
Page 65 and 66: scenes happening in the background
Page 67 and 68: (see feature on p. 66) there is a l
Page 69 and 70: The Star of the Show Lavinia Fontan
Page 71 and 72: satisfaction. In one retelling it w
Page 73 and 74: COMPARISONS AND CRAFTSMANSHIP The n
Page 77 and 78: and new research can be studied and
Page 79 and 80: painters, but self-portraiture form
Page 81 and 82: Curator Sergio Risaliti speaks ‘C
Page 85 and 86: But what of her method, I ask, and
Page 87 and 88:
Above: Installation shot of Paula R
Page 89 and 90:
Catherine represent theological lea
Page 91 and 92:
ook’s blank pages as symbolic of
Page 93 and 94:
Women at Work Portraits in Words an
Page 95 and 96:
Above: Mary Somerville by James Ran
Page 97 and 98:
scientific advancement, it is not s
Page 99 and 100:
A day in the life... Crafters Jane
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Winter 2023

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