The Collection

Woodmere Art Museum’s growing photographic collection owes its start to a magnificent gift of personal work from local photographer Severo Antonelli. A world-renowned artist and founder of the Antonelli School of Photography, Antonelli’s early work has been associated with the Futurist movement in art, which paid homage to industrial and technological advances, but his output was far more diverse. For instance, he is equally well known for his celebrity photos, including stars of film, stage, music, and sports, who, upon finding themselves in Philadelphia, made the obligatory trip to Antonelli’s studio on South Broad Street for a photo session. Conductor Leopold Stokowski, dancers Marie Gambarelli and Catherine Littlefield, violinist Ruggiero Ricci, tenors Giovanni Martinelli and Nino Martini, and Primo Carnera, “The Gentle Giant,” the Italian heavyweight boxing champion of the world, are but a few of the world-famous celebrities Antonelli captured on film. One of the more striking images, The Vixen, is of a now unknown starlet.