Gaetano Mansi

Gaetano Mansi (July 20, 1956) is an Italian fashion and portrait photographer.

Career Early career, education He started his career in Salerno, working as an assistant for Studio Segno, advertising agency founded by Pino Grimaldi. In the Seventies his main professional field was reportage. He is coauthor of Missus est Angelus, a photographic essay on John Paul II. The magazine Il Tempo Illustrato publishes his images of Rino Mele’s avant-garde theater. In 1978 he contributes to the exhibit “Autodocumentazione”. He gets a degree in Art History with a thesis on the history of fashion photography. He takes active part in the workshops at “Venezia 79 la fotografia”, sponsored by UNESCO.

1980s In 1980 he contributed to the documentation of the earthquake in Irpinia (November 23, 1980) flying over the disaster area on a helicopter. His reportages are published by the weekly magazine Epoca as well as many international periodicals. He takes part in the recognition of the historical buildings in Campania promoted by the Department of Restoration of Naples University. All the findings have been gathered in the volume “Oltre il Terremonto”. From 1981 on he starts to work for Casa Vogue magazine, thanks to the friendly intervention of his mentor Aldo Ballo. His contribution to Casa Vogue will go on for more than a decade. His works are also published by british Condé Nast House&Garden. With Alessandro Pinto he publishes the books Cilento and La Costa dei Miti. Following his interest in fashion photography he startscontributing to Vogue Italia.

1990s In the Nineties he starts to work for Il Venerdì di Repubblica with portraits and reportages: among the others a shooting on Eva Herzigova in the Bahamas. While in Jerusalem for Il Venerdì he is assaulted and wounded by a terrorist. He is one of the very few surviving Westerners in the Intifada. His are the images that launch Samarcanda, a successful TV show by Michele Santoro. He shoots fashion campaigns on location, from Africa to North America with top models and actresses like Linda Evangelista, Monica Potter, Melba Ruffo, Michelle Hunziker. He is coauthor of the book on the history of fashion photography La Fotografia di Moda tra Immagine e Rappresentazione.

2000-present From the year 2000 on he focuses exclusively on fashion, shooting in Italy and abroad for advertising campaigns and fashion magazines.

He contributed to the volume Corso di Fotografia and prints the books 40 Volte Bianca, PassingThrough, CentoAsa Grana & Pixels. His exhibition "Grana & Pixels“ takes places in Rome in 2017. It consists of 300 billboards posted all over the city of Rome linked to an app that geolocalizes every one of them.

From 2018 he is a contributor for Diva e Donna magazine, with Daniela Rosa Cattaneo as fashion director.

Style Gaetano Mansi's style has been influenced by the different genres he experimented through the years. He prefers to shoot on location, often employing mixed light, natural and artificial. His images are almost always dynamic, never posing, with a particular attention to lighting and composition.

Books Missus est Angelus, Il Laboratorio Edizioni, 1978, A day with Pope John Paul II Cilento, Comunità Montana Gelbison e Cervati, 1981 Oltre il Terremoto, Assessorato Pubblica Istruzione e Beni Culturali, 1982, Pictures from Irpinia Earthquake La Costa dei Miti, Comunità Montana Lambro Mingardo, 1982 Styles of living, the best of Casa Vogue, Rizzoli, New York, 1985 La fotografia di moda tra immagine e rappresentazione, EleaPress, 1992, A short history of fashion photography Corso Di Fotografia, National Geographic/Editoriale La Repubblica, 2000, Photography techniques 40 Volte Bianca, Marte Editrice, 2008 Passing Through, Marte Editrice, 2013 CentoAsa, Marte Editrice, 2017 Grana & Pixels, Marte Editrice, 2017 Faces and Souls, Caratteri, 2021 40 Volte Bianca, Caratteri-Made in Italy, 2022 54x70, Caratteri, 2022 Volti e Anime, Marte Editrice, 2022 Zoe Factory, la fabbrica della bellezza, Caratteri, 2024 Melluso, settanta anni di immagini iconiche, Caratteri-Made in Italy, 2024 Living Canvas, , Tono Continuo Edizioni, 2025

Publications

Casa Vogue 1982 : November 1983 : October, November 1984 : July–August, November 1986 : August, November 1987 : May 1988 : January 1990 : November 1991 : May Vogue Italia 1986 : December 1987 : December 1988 : September, December 1989 : January, March, September, December 1990 : March 1991 : May Vogue Gioiello 1984 : November Vogue America 1985 : April House&Garden 1985 : May 1986 : January Casa Vogue Antiques 1989 : May 1991 : January Vogue Uomo Mare 1991 : January L’Uomo Vogue 1993 : July Il Venerdì 1992 : N.232, 1996 : N.422, 426, 457 1998 : N.622 Mondo Sposa 1994 : September 1995 : September First Class Japan 1994 : March Linea Intima 1995 : April Linea Sposi 1996 : January Sposarsi 1996 : January Where Miami 2000 : March Zoom 2002 : January Stilish Magazine Russia 2005 : April FHM Spagna 2006 : April Vintage Kazakistan 2014 : N.71 2014 : N.77 Fotografare 2016 : September

Exhibitions 1978 : Autodocumentazione, retrospective exhibition, Sant’Apollonia Church, Salerno, Italy. 2015 : Silent print, Well Gallery, London College of Communication, London, United Kingdom. 2017 : Grana & Pixels, widespread exhibition, Roma, Italy. 2022 : 54x70, Teatro Antonio Ghirelli, Salerno, Italy 2022 : Volti e Anime, Treviso, Italy.