Interview Directory 

DÜSSELDORF/ART

Name: Alexandra Pfründer

Residence: Düsseldorf

Sophia Loren und Marcello Mastroianni ©Archivio Paolo Costa

Can you briefly describe your father Paolo Costa's career to the readers? It is said that he was on the run from the German and Italian fascists?

My father Paolo Costa was born in 1917 in Italy in the province of Ravenna (Emilia Romagna) and studied political science and philosophy at the universities of Bologna and Venice. During the war, my mother told me, he was in danger because of his allegiance to the partisans who were active in Emilia Romagna at the time and had to flee by bicycle to San Marino, a small republic in the centre of Emilia Romagna, today a tourist magnet and at the time a neutral host country for many refugees. I remember that we travelled to San Marino together when I was little and the place always had something very special for me, even if it is quite touristy today ;-). After ten years working as a journalist, including as a sports reporter, he began his career as a photographer in 1951. For two years, his work consisted mainly of photo documentaries about life in the Italian south, which were published almost everywhere in the world; he also worked as a sports reporter. From 1953 onwards, my father spent a long time in Rome, where he later moved to, turning his back on Milan. He also met Sophia Loren there.

Gradually, more and more celebrities had their photos taken by him. In addition to Sophia Loren, these included other stars of (Italian) cinema, such as Gina Lollobrigida, Anna Magnani, Brigitte Bardot and many other well-known personalities such as: Simone Signoret, Yves Montand, Louis Armstrong or the directors Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti etc.

My father also made a name for himself as a talent scout. He discovered and supported a number of actresses such as Daliah Lavi, Sandra Milo, Ursula Andress, Britt Ekland, etc. He also discovered the singer Amanda Learan Verdi. The singer Amanda Lear also owes her first well-known portraits and cover pictures to my father's lens. Worldwide, 550 covers photographed by him were published, 170 of them in Germany alone, the country in which he himself became a star photographer, albeit only for a short time, e.g. through the ‘Neue Revue’ campaign ‘Germany's Beautiful Women’. 

“In a report on RAI Uno's Tagesschau programme, Costa was presented as one of the best photographers in Europe.“

He ended up doing advertising and promotion for major companies, including ESSO, BMW, Olivetti, Fiat, DAF and Renault. In the fashion sector, he worked for Emilio Pucci, Piccini, Heinz Oestergaard, Magli, etc. In 1973, Costa moved to Munich and married a German communications scientist in 1976. A year earlier, in 1975, I was born as his only daughter. An exhibition of photographs by the self-taught photographer in Riccione (Italy) in May 1979 attracted a great deal of attention in the Italian press. In a report on the RAI Uno news programme, Costa was presented as one of the best photographers in Europe. Paolo Costa died in 1981 in Grünwald near Munich and was forgotten. In 2022, after the death of my mother, I inherited the archive. 

Maria Callas und Giuseppe di Stefano ©Archivio Paolo Costa

I read that your father did award-winning political and social reportages before he photographed celebrities?

The photo documentaries about life in the Italian south were published almost everywhere in the world (see above). Some of his very first photographs, taken in Sardinia in an area ruled by bandits, were published by the American magazine LIFE. Unfortunately, I haven't found out any more about this, but there must have been a lot more. He also photographed personalities from politics and the aristocracy and was present at major events, such as the funerals of two popes. He also produced reports on these events. I'm finding one interesting work after another and I think there's more to discover.  

The ‘anti-paparazzo’. “He never photographed people unflatteringly or in an embarrassing pose, never!“

His photos were always taken in a professional setting?

My father photographed a lot in the private surroundings and private rooms of celebrities, e.g. Sophia Loren in her flat in Rome, Claudia Cardinale in her kitchen, etc. He was also present on film sets and accompanied the stars on their travels. He was also present on film sets, accompanied the stars on trips and later also had his own studio and darkroom in Germany; I can still remember the last two rooms a little bit. You have to remember that I was 6 years old when he died. Some of the recordings seem almost intimate, but if you look closely, they are highly professional. You get the feeling that my dad knew exactly what he was doing. One author once called him the ‘anti-paparazzo’, which sounds harsh at first glance, but when you look at the photos, it's positive, because he never photographed people in an unflattering or even embarrassing pose, never! I also can't find any ‘bad’ shots on the contact sheets of unpublished photographs. Nevertheless, the photos look natural and not posed.  

Anita Ekberg ©Archivio Paolo Costa

Brigitte Bardot ©Archivio Paolo Costa

Can you tell the readers a few stories from the time of the Dolce Vita in Rome? Perhaps something about your family history and how you came to Düsseldorf? What is it like for you emotionally to deal with your father's work every day?

Unfortunately, I'm too ‘young’ for the dolce vita in Rome as my father experienced it ;-) or rather, I didn't experience it together with my father and he couldn't tell me about it because I was too young. But if you follow the Instagram account I set up for my father under @archiviopaolocosta, you may have seen that I'm always exploring the places where my father was present. My father first met my mother in Munich. He had an office there and my mum started a student job with him. That's how they fell in love. My mum was 29 years younger than my dad. I was born in 1975 and we had a few exciting years with lots of travelling between Germany and Italy, which I hardly remember but my mother told me a lot about. An exciting phenomenon is that I remember the Italian language, albeit now with audible gaps, but in such a way that I can converse well without ever having learnt it consciously or remembering it. My parents spoke to me in both languages, but of course I don't remember them, but the language, like the archive, has stayed with me.

It was all the more difficult for my mother when my father became ill, his work became more and more of a minor matter and he died in 1981 in our house in Grünwald near Munich. Before his illness, he had been involved in a restaurant with a business partner in Munich, but that didn't last long. The illness gradually prevented him from leading his usual life, he was no longer even allowed to eat his beloved pasta (my father was also a very good cook). I still remember that I always wanted a calzone when my father made pizza for us; this is a folded pizza pocket - calzone means trousers in German. 

Our lives changed radically after his death. My mother never became the ‘old’ one again and the time of glamour and travelling together was over. Life became hard. My father's archive lay fallow and my mother didn't have the strength to dedicate herself to his life's work. I quickly had to stand on my own two feet and literally banished my father's photographs from my mind. Of course they were there and I was aware of that, but for me it was first about building a life for myself. I studied business administration and later social work, got married, had a son and in 2010 my husband got a job offer in Düsseldorf. Then my son and I moved to Düsseldorf in 2011 and we've lived here ever since. My mother died in 2022 and I took over my father's archive completely. I realised immediately that I had to salvage the treasure now, I owe it to them both; there's no turning back now! It was very hard for me at first because I had to deal with the past and also with being the last one in the ‘Costa’ family. I was sad, especially when I found family photos, but now I'm absorbed in the task. I'm working on a homepage, maintaining the Instagram account @archiviopaolocosta and have a first collaboration with Galerie noir blanche and am planning an exhibition in Augsburg (starting on 14 April 24) at Galerie Süßkind, which is run by a school friend of mine and we've always dreamed of this project. 

Sometimes dealing with my father's estate is not easy for me, especially detailed questions always cost me a little effort, but it also helps me to process the past. 

“Experimental with grain and exposure, expressive and restrained at the same time.“

How would you describe your father's artistic style?

As described, very intimate, very close to people. Experimental with grain and exposure, expressive and restrained at the same time. At the same time brash, as you can see in the shots of Claudia Cardinale, for example, who seemed to be really uncomplicated, and perhaps still is, and has joined in with all the fun. Then there are the many magazine cover photos that I gradually find. Of course, they are also orientated towards the zeitgeist, but the motifs also appear cheeky and self-confident. 

Do you know whether he particularly liked photographing a special person?

I think he was very professional, knew what was appropriate and therefore didn't just photograph according to preference. At the same time, the amount of vintage prints, slides and negatives in the archive allows me to recognise a clear tendency, especially in the early years, towards Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale and Gina Lollobrigida, but also including other stars such as Jacqueline Sassard, of whom I have found countless slides, or Anita Ekberg. But there are also plenty of photographs from his documentaries, which he seems to have loved!

What are your plans for Archivio Paolo Costa? Do you have any technical or legal challenges? Can you also tell us something about Noir Blanche?

Oh yes, I could go on and on! There are so many challenges. I have to endeavour to protect the copyrights that have been transferred to me, but at the same time I want to show the material of course, it's a fine line! You know how it is on the World Wide Web, but I investigate serious copyright infringements with the help of a renowned law firm. The personal rights of the people pictured are less of a problem, because you can see that they wanted to be photographed by my father, called him in and he didn't take a paparazzi photo. 

Technically, digitising and editing the image files is a challenge. But I've found a few very good and reliable business partners who support me with excellent work. Of course, these are all high costs and therefore I hope that I will also sell a few motifs ;-). The first photographs have already been purchased in the Galerie noire blanche by collectors and lovers of classic photography, but we are only at the beginning of our collaboration, it still has to grow.  

Do you have ambitions to work as a photographer yourself?

No! I always want to ask, why should I, I'm completely untalented ;-). But of course I don't know that. Nowadays, everyone takes photos and no one does. Some amateurs stand out and can hold their own against the professionals. But not everyone who thinks they can take great photos can do it. I don't have to join the ranks just because I had a highly talented father. I have other talents that I can put into practice. I'm also a perfectionist, I would want to learn it properly, analogue and digital, it's not that easy to find a good teacher these days. You can't really get hold of the big stars any more, I find that really difficult these days. I'm totally satisfied with what I've achieved, so it's enough for me to take a few nice holiday photos and snapshots. But to finish off with a little anecdote: I squint one eye when taking photos - that's exactly what my father did! I inherited that from him! Thank you very much for interviewing me :-)!

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Sophia Loren ©Archivio Paolo Costa