Mussolini at Palazzo Venezia in Rome, 1931 (Abzug 1934)

About the Work

Felix H. Man set out to reveal ‘the true face of the dictator’ Benito Mussolini, the Prime Minister of fascist Italy from 1922 to 1943. To this end, he travelled to Rome for the Münchner Illustrierte Presse in 1931. Having undergone a whole series of security checks, the photojournalist was finally allowed into Mussolini’s imposing office. To take this shot, he stood 25 metres from his subject—a distance that makes the Italian chief of state look tiny. Man accompanied Mussolini for an entire day: on his morning horseback ride, during his audiences, on an outing to the sea. In 1933, the dictator turned down his request for another session.