The Museo d'arte della Svizzera italiana presents an anthological exhibition consecrated to Roberto Donetta (1865-1932) that offers an original and unusual insight in the life of Ticino on the threshold of modernity, through the point of view of one of its most well-known photographer. 

A traveling vendor of seeds, Donetta discovers photography and devotes himself to it as an autodidact with growing passion. He captures everyday life, the rituals, the parties -weddings, baptisms and funerals- and portrays young and older people alike, without neglecting to document the events that in that era transformed life in the Blenio valley determining its entry in the modern world.

His curiosity and his strong personality lead him to experiment with the photographic medium, producing works which anticipate future artistic and journalistic photographic approaches.

The exhibition present a new insight into the large archive Donetta left us after the 1993 monographic exhibition organized following the fortunate discovery of 5000 plates. The archive was retrieved only 50 years after his death, permitting a new appraisal of his work and entrusting the community with an iconographic heritage of the highest historical and artistic importance. The exhibition features more than 100 images among which are some of the pictures that made him famous over the last years. This important initiative will subsequently be presented at the Fotostiftung Schweiz (Swiss Foundation for Photography), Winterthur.