Arturo Bragaglia Biography
Arturo Bragaglia (1893 - 1962) was an Italian photographer and film actor. Belonging to the Bragaglia family, made up of his father Francesco and his brothers Alberto, Anton Giulio and Carlo Ludovico, he was the only one to dedicate himself exclusively to photography and, from the end of the 1930s, to acting.
Thanks to his father's privileged position, Bragaglia had free access to the Roman Cines film factories since his adolescence, starting the photography business together with his brother Carlo Ludovico. He specialized in development and printing procedures, becoming known above all for his portraits of silent film actresses and for his archaeological and "photodynamic" photos, often used by his brother Anton Giulio as illustrative material for his articles and theoretical essays.
In 1930, he participated in the first National Photographic Competition in Rome and in 1932 he was among the exhibitors of the Futurist Photographic Exhibition in Trieste. In 1933, he exhibited his works in the great National Futurist Exhibition in Rome in the photographic section.
Starting in 1937, Bragaglia was a stage photographer at Cinecittà and made his debut as an actor in the film Stasera alle 11 by Oreste Biancoli, a role that allowed him to become an appreciated character actor, protagonist of around fifty films, directed by directors such as Vittorio De Sica and Mario Monicelli.
Bragaglia was also the holder of a photography course at the Experimental Cinematography Center and opened various photographic studios in Rome, maintaining the unmistakable Bragaglia trademark.
