Madonnina (2004)

Paula Chamlee





















































During the trips in 2000 and 2001 in Tuscany, I began an additional series of photographs that became a second book for me called Madonnina, (little Madonna), also published in 2004. I was drawn to the great beauty, variety, and extraordinary craftsmanship of these religious icons that hold such profound significance for a great number of the Italian people.

I made all of the Madonnina photographs by using the 4x5 reducing back on the 8x10-inch view camera. I felt that the pictures needed to be smaller than 8x10 to reflect the intimacy and relatively small physical size of the shrines.

Madonnina is bound in celestial blue cloth with gold stamping and includes a Foreword by Steven Maklansky, then Curator of Photography of the New Orleans Museum of Art. There is a Preface by me, and an Essay by an Italian scholar and teacher, Giuliana Bianchi Caleri, "Madonnine: Origins and Evolution." All three Tuscany books were printed by master printer, Georges Charlier of Salto2 in Belgium, someone we had met in 1999 through a good friend. We quickly decided that this genius who compulsively strove to achieve never-before-seen-excellence in offset printing was a perfect match for us.


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