flush-mounted, signed, titled, dated, and inscribed ‘To Franca and Paolo Gasparini, with every wish for their happiness, Orgeval, 1957’ in ink on the reverse, framed, 1953, printed no later than 1957

Paul Strand to photographer Paolo Gasparini, 1957
Acquired from Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, 1985

Paul Strand and Cesare Zavattini, Un Paese: Portrait of an Italian Village (Aperture, 1997), dust jacket and p. 81
Michael E. Hoffman, ed., Paul Strand: Sixty Years of Photographs (Aperture, 1976), p. 75
Sarah Greenough, Paul Strand: An American Vision (Aperture and The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., 1990), p. 129

This photograph is on double-weight paper with a smooth, very faintly glossy surface. It is in excellent condition. As is characteristic of Strand's photographs, this print is flush-mounted. In this case, the print is mounted to paper watermarked 'J. L. Blacons papete[rie].' Also characteristic of Strand's work is the high quality of the print which, in terms of the balance and modulation of tones, and the high level of detail, is truly impressive. Strand is known as an uncompromising printer, and this example is perfectly consistent with that reputation. The dry-mounting tissue extends slightly beyond the left edge of the print. On the reverse, at the top edge, are paper and glue remains, suggesting that the photograph may have been affixed to a secondary mount. Strand's inscriptions on the reverse are written in blue ink. The title, negative date, and signature appear in a slightly darker ink than does his inscription to the Gasparinis. All of the writing is bold and clear.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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'Lusetti Family, Luzzara, Italy’ is the signature image from Strand's photographic portrait of the village of Luzzara, in the Po region of Italy.  Disillusioned by McCarthyism, Strand moved to Europe in the early 1950s, in search of new subjects for his work.  In Italy, he settled on one village, Luzzara, suggested by the cinematographer Cesare Zavattini, who had been born there.   Accompanied by Zavattini's text, Strand's photographs were published in 1955 in the volume Un Paese (Turin: Giulio Einaudi), with the ‘Lusetti Family’ on the volume’s dust jacket.
Strand's cultural portrait of Luzzara is imbued with the aftermath of war. Anna, the matriarch of the present image, married at age 18 and gave birth to 15 children.  She had seen her husband beaten for political reasons, and after his premature death in 1933, she was left to raise the family on her own.  All but the youngest of her sons had fought in World War II, on two continents; all endured deprivation and hardship.  When the present image was made, the family was eking out a living as sharecroppers on someone else's land.
The themes of human suffering and resilience, so much a part of Strand's cultural studies, is exemplified by the words of Anna Lusetti that formed part of Un Paese’s text for the present image:
'Remo was watching when they beat his father in Via Catania in Campagnola.  A car stopped and there were five or six people, it was around five in the evening.  Nino says he has never understood why they fought the war.  Nino was a prisoner in Africa, where he ended up with his brother Valentino, who was also a prisoner.  The first time Afro was on a train was when he went into the service in '43; then he ran away home.  Guerrino's health was affected by the blows he received in Germany.  Nando was also there, and in order to survive he even ate a rabbit skin.  He lives eight kilometers away because there isn't room for everyone in the farmhouse.  And it's a house where the rain comes in.’
'In 1945 they asked me if I wanted revenge, but I didn't.'
This rare, early print was given by Strand to the young Italian-born photographer, Paolo Gasparini, in 1957.  Gasparini (b. 1934) relocated to Venezuela as a young man and went on to create a body of work that, like Strand’s, incorporates photographic objectivity with unsentimental humanism.  He is celebrated for his immersive coverage of post-revolution Cuba, and his work in Panama, Peru, Mexico, and Venezuela.  He is widely published, and his work is in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The George Eastman House, the Bibliothèque Nationale, among other institutions.