Federico Patellani Biography
Federico Patellani was born in Monza in 1911 into an ancient Milanese family. He graduated in law after classical studies and cultivated a passion for painting and literature by frequenting Milanese cultural circles. In 1935, after completing his military service, Patellani participated in military operations in East Africa as an engineer officer. During this period, he captured travel images with his Leica camera which were published by the Milanese newspaper "L'Ambrosiano". This would become the beginning of Patellani's career in photography. In 1939 he abandoned his legal career to become a photojournalist, starting a long collaboration with Alberto Mondadori's "Tempo" magazine. In 1940 he went to Yugoslavia as a correspondent for "Tempo" to document the military operations of the Italian army. In 1941 he was called back to the front as part of the Photocinematographic Team and documented the Russian campaign under the pseudonym "Pat Monterosso". In 1943 he captured a famous series of images of the bombed city of Milan. In the same year Patellani claimed the legitimacy of his profession in an article entitled "The new journalistic formula" published by the "Domus" editorial group, in which he explained the principles on which the new profession of photojournalism is based. After two and a half years of internment in Switzerland and 18 months at the editorial office of "Corriere Lombardo", he returned to his position at "Tempo", which resumed publications in 1946 under the direction of Arturo Tofanelli. His images portray post-war Italy, the economic recovery, industries, fashion, cultural life, beauty contests, cinema, the social changes of Southern Italy. He then collaborates with the most important Italian magazines, including "Tempo", "Epoca", "Oggi", and constantly keeps an eye on foreign newspapers, with which he establishes a dense network of professional relationships. Patellani was a cultured and enthusiastic man who found fertile ground for his career in the post-war reconstruction of Milan. It was a time when the publishing industry flourished and where artists, writers and journalists worked and interacted. He was aware of the birth of a new cultural industry and decided to become one of its protagonists. Therefore, in 1952, with foresight, he became a freelancer, founding PAT PHOTO PICTURES, a modern photojournalism agency that aimed to create a vast archive of images from different parts of the world to sell to Italian and foreign media. In 1956 he worked on a feature film for "Epoca", entitled "America Pagana", which he made in cinemascope and in colour. In the same magazine he published another series of reports entitled "Black Paradise", which he documented during a long journey from the Belgian Congo to Kenya with the help of his son Aldo. Starting from the same year, Patellani collaborates with various magazines such as "La Domenica del Corriere", "Successo", "Storia Illustrata", "Atlante", creating numerous photographic reportages around the world. His intelligence and passion for photojournalism fueled his enthusiasm until the end. He captured his last reportage in 1976 in Ceylon. Patellani died in Milan in 1977.
