About the Work
Naples held great appeal for tourists not only because of its charming coastal scenery and awe-inspiring Mount Vesuvius, but also thanks to its customs and traditions. Particularly from the 1880s onwards, Italian-based photographers increasingly marketed studies of human beings that shaped and continually fuelled the cliché of the poor but carefree population of Southern Italy. With his outsider’s perspective on the Italian culture, the native Frankfurter Giorgio Sommer contributed to shaping the visual habits of tourists. In a series entitled Costumi (Customs), he captured purportedly characteristic everyday scenes. By populating his scenes with merchants and craftspersons—in some cases hired to pose for the shot—he conveyed the image of a traditional, pre-industrial society.
