02 / Iconography
In pictures
In 2020, on the sidelines of the show Maria Callas — Letters & Memoirs which he directed for Monica Bellucci, Tom Volf produced a series of portraits of the actress.
In 2020, on the sidelines of the show Maria Callas — Letters & Memoirs which he directed for Monica Bellucci, Tom Volf produced a series of portraits of the actress.
The session takes place in complicity with a project shared for several months: the play had already premiered at the Théâtre Marigny at the end of 2019, then tours in Europe, and the trust between the director and his performer allows for rare photographic intimacy.
The images capture less the glamorous icon than the woman at work, in the concentration of reading or the pause between two rehearsals. Several are published in Paris Match, Le Monde, The Telegraph, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera — quickly becoming the reference images of this Volf / Bellucci collaboration on Maria Callas.
Photography is the other side of Tom Volf’s work – the one that precedes cinema.
Before Maria by Callas, he had already published several personal series (Arctic, Tibet, Nepal) always in an analog approach: film Rolleiflex, square film, no retouching.
For Monica Bellucci, the approach is transposed to the posed portrait: dominant black and white, tight framing, natural light. The series echoes the tradition of the major campaigns the actress posed for — Avedon, Toscani, Cartier-Bresson - but is distinguished by its theatrical anchoring: these images come from a production where Bellucci embodies the voice of Maria Callas, and where the director and the photographer are the same person.
Part of the series was exhibited as part of the show's European tours.
Series produced in 2020, at the time of the creation of the play Maria Callas: Letters & Memoirs, of which Monica Bellucci is the sole performer under the direction of Tom Volf.
The portraits were published in Paris Match, Le Monde, The Telegraph, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera.
International coverage
Exclusive report on the show Letters & Memoirs. Bellucci as Callas, domestic setting and Dior outfits, Cartier jewelry.
Photos of Monica Bellucci © Tom Volf
Photos of Maria Callas © Maria Callas Endowment Fund
Cover mockups
Front-page feature, 16 February 2020 + interview with Bellucci on the full inside page: “Most of the work of an artist is done in solitude”.
Photos © Tom Volf
Culture section of the British daily: “Monica Bellucci on Maria Callas: I had the feeling that I could get in touch with her soul”. Photo Tom Volf, Cartier fine jewelry.
Photos © Tom Volf
Review by Rodolfo Di Giammarco around the Italian creation of the show.
Photos © Tom Volf
Italian coverage around the Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto.
Photos © Tom Volf
Italian women's weekly. Studio portrait of Monica Bellucci on a blue background, full interior page and edition cover.
Cover photo © Tom Volf
Weekly supplement of the Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini (No. 902). Black & white portrait, closed eyes, white dress and Cartier necklace — a few days before the performances of Bellucci as Callas at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
Cover photo © Tom Volf
Greek daily supplement To Vima (No. 158). “When Monica Bellucci fell in love with Greece” – interview a few days before her incarnation of Callas at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
Cover photo © Tom Volf
New French magazine dedicated to opera (n° 2). “Revelation: Monica Bellucci embodies Callas” — portrait in black sweater, iconic posture, on the cover.
Cover photo © Tom Volf
