Everyday Life of Italy in the Early 1980s Through Fascinating Photos
The 80s are a time of fun, excess, luxury and optimism. The 1980s top the seemingly unlimited economical growth of Italy and mark the apparent transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial and service oriented economy.
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| Italy in the early 1980s |
In these years, Milan affirms itself as the social and economical capital of Italy. Designers, artists and fashion gurus open stores and galleries in the city. After a famous TV spot, the city becomes known as Milano da Bere, the Italian capital of the aperitif ritual.
These are the years in which “Made in Italy” becomes a true brand and Italian products and lifestyle start to get more and more attention abroad. This is evident in music and television. Many singers and bands are influenced by the new musical movements hailing from England, Germany and the USA. Music fans are inspired in their dress code and behavior from their pop idols, like Madonna, Wham, Duran Duran. Many pop bands, both original and copycats of British and USA bands start to appear throughout Italy.
These fascinating photos were taken by New York City-based photographer Meredith Jacobson Marciano that documented everyday life of Italy in the early 1980s.
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| Italy. Agrigento old and new, Sicily, 1984 |
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| Italy. Alberobello Trulli, 1984 |
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| Italy. Band on a smoke break, Oleggio, 1984 |
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| Italy. Beach club Oasi, 1984 |
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| Italy. Beach dressing rooms, 1984 |
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| Italy. Beach resort, 1984 |
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| Italy. Boboli Gardens Fountain of Neptune, Florence, 1981 |
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| Italy. Boys school group at Piazza San Marco, Venice, 1981 |
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| Italy. Capri, 1984 |
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| Italy. Cinecittà Studios, Rome, 1984 |
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| Italy. Cinema Odeon, Ferrara, 1984 |
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| Italy. Family in Agrigento, 1984 |
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| Italy. Florence scenic viewing, 1984 |
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| Italy. Graffiti inside Leaning Tower, Pisa, 1981 |
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| Italy. Gubbio, 1981 |
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| Italy. Hilltop village, province of Agrigento, Sicily, 1984 |
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| Italy. Lago Maggiore, 1981 |
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| Italy. Lavanderia Gilda, Sorrento, 1984 |
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| Italy. man in Todi, 1984 |
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| Italy. Ostia Lido, 1984 |
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| Italy. Ostia Lido, 1984 |
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| Italy. Piazza in the fog, Bologna, 1981 |
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| Italy. Piazza San Marco, Venice, 1981 |
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| Italy. Pompeii Temple of Apollo, 1981 |
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| Italy. Roman theater ruins and Sant’Anastasia church, Verona, 1981 |
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| Italy. Rotonda Di San Lorenzo, Mantua, 1981 |
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| Italy. Sats and Mae West, Venice, 1984 |
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| Italy. Sleeping girl on Ferrovia Dello Stato, 1984 |
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| Italy. Stretching dog, 1984 |
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| Italy. Trieste, 1984 |
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| Italy. Trulli – homes in Alberobello, 1984 |
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| Italy. Venezia, 1981 |
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| Italy. Walking through the village, Lacco Ameno, Ischia, 1984 |
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| Italy. Yellow house and moto, Perugia, 1984 |
American Prospects: Beautiful Color Pictures of Life in America in the 1970s and 1980s
Joel Sternfeld was born in New York City in 1944, and earned a BA in Art from Dartmouth College. Sternfeld began taking photographs in 1970 having studied the colour theory of artists Johannes Itten and Josef Albers. Early work included street photography on small and medium format cameras.
In 1978, Sternfeld embarked on a road-trip which traversed the United States. Using an 8 x 10 inch camera, Sternfeld photographed the communities, culture, landscapes and quotidian life he encountered along the way.
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| Kansas City, Kansas, May 1983 |
American Prospects is seen as a continuation of the American documentary tradition established in the 1930s by Walker Evans and continued by Robert Frank twenty years later. Sternfeld expanded the trajectory of the medium by photographing scenes rich in implied narrative, which were also distinct in their colour and composition. Laced with a touch of irony, his photographs from the project explore American identity in a thought-provoking yet humorous manner.
His masterful use of colour heightens the tensions in these comic depictions of everyday life in America. First exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and then published in book form in 1987, American Prospects is regarded as one of the most influential bodies of photographic work from this period. Sternfeld’s later work has continued to experiment with colour and put it to use in documenting everyday events and the people he encounters.
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| McLean, Virginia, December 1978 |
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| The Space Shuttle Columbia Lands at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, March 1979 |
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| Beverly Hills, California, May 1979 |
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| Beverly Hills, California, May 1979 |
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| Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica, California, May 1979 |
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| Approximately 17 of 41 Sperm Whales That Beached and Subsequently Died, Florence, Oregon, June 1979 |
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| Lake Oswego, Oregon, June 1979 |
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| Sauvies Island, Oregon, June 1979 |
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| Exhausted Renegade Elephant, Woodland, Washington, June 1979 |
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| Bear Lake, Utah, July 1979 |
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| Phoenix, Arizona, August 1979 |
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| Yellowstone National Park, August 1979 |
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| Park City, Utah, August 1979 |
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| After A Flash Flood, Rancho Mirage, California, 1979 |
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| After a Tornado, Grande Isle, Nebraska, June 1980 |
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| Swift River, White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire, July 1980 |
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| Wet n’ Wild Aquatic Theme Park, Orlando, Florida, September 1980 |
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| Jungle Gym, Wet n’Wild Aquatic Theme Park, Orlando, Florida, September 1980 |
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| Coeburn, Virginia, April 1981 |
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| Member of the Christ Family Religious Sect, Hidlago County, Texas, January 1983 |
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| A Kickapoo Man in Eagle Pass Texas, January 1983 |
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| West Virginia, March 1983 |
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| Domestic Workers Waiting for the Bus, Atlanta, Georgia, April 1983 |
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| Kansas City, Kansas, May 1983 |
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| Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Arizona, 1983 |
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| Grafton, West Virginia, February 1983 |
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| Canyon Country, California, June 1983 |
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| A Blind Man in His Garden, Homer, Alaska, June 1984 |
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| Abandoned Freighter, Homer, Alaska, July 1984 |
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| Agoura, California, February 1988 |
30 Impressive Photos Capture Everyday Life of Times Square Area, New York City in the 1980s
Steven Siegel is a veteran film photographer, based-in Bergen County, New Jersey, USA. He has been photographing over 30 years and most of his photos are about street scenes in New York City from the 1980s to now.
“When young people today look at my shots from the 1980s, they are aghast. To them, New York of the 1980s is almost unrecognizable. And they are right.
Some older people are nostalgic for ‘the good old days’. For example, they remember the Times Square of the 1980s… And what they remember is not so much the danger but the grittiness and (for lack of a better word) the authenticity. Yes, there was sleaze, but there were also video arcades, cheap movies, restaurants, and weird places.”
Here is an impressive photo set that Siegel documented everyday life of Times Square area during the 1980s.
