The 700 square meter pavilion enriches the collection of the 1943 Landing in Sicily Museum in Catania with 70 images of the great American photographer, who became famous for having documented the American landing in Sicily in July 1943.
The Phil Stern Pavilion was inaugurated on September 25th 2017, at 6.00 pm, in presence of the sons of the photographer, Peter and Tom, who came from Los Angeles to attest the work done in recent years by a group of professionals to enhance the father's work, through exhibitions, books and conferences.
The Phil Stern Pavilion, curated by the historian Ezio Costanzo, and strongly desired by Ornella Laneri, president of the Foundation, was realized thanks to an agreement with the Città Metropolitana of Catania.
The pavilion also displays historical illustrative panels, posters, a collection depicting the young Phil Stern and photographs taken on Hollywood sets and in the world of jazz. Exclusively for the museum are also exposed some giant photographs taken by Carmelo Nicosia, Stern's personal photographer during the days of his return to Sicily in 2013 and published in the book Phil Stern. Welcome back to Sicily, images that depict the human aspects of Phil Stern who brings his family back to Sicily after 70 years, reliving the places that saw him as a young reporter.
The Fondazione, among the various activities, includes a special attention to the landing sites as territories interested in possible socio-economic developments, so as to imagine a specific cultural tourism district of such places in line with the English and French realities.
Lo sguardo oltre la guerra
On the occasion of the anniversary of the establishment of the Phil Stern Pavilion in the Historical Museum of the Landing in Sicily in 1943, the OELLE Mediterraneo Antico Foundation, in collaboration with the Metropolitan City of Catania, presents two events of great historical-cultural importance:
1 ) Presentation, in national preview, of the book "Snapdragon The World War II exploits of Darby's Ranger and Combat Photographer Phil Stern" by the American journalist Liesl Bradner, who during the presentation will talk with Ezio Costanzo and Carmelo Nicosia.
2) Inauguration of the photographic exhibition "The look beyond the war. 1942/1943 Unpublished photographs by Phil Stern ", edited by Ezio Costanzo. The events will take place at the Phil Stern Pavilion - Historical Museum of the landing in Sicily 1943 - Le Ciminiere Catania - Tuesday 25 September 2018 starting at 18.00
The book: "SnapDragon. The World War II exploits of Darby’s Ranger and Combat Photographer Phil Stern” the written and photographic testimony of the participation in World War II of the American photographer Phil Stern, enlisted following the Darby's Rangers. In the book (312 pages, published by Osprey Publishing) are collected the notes of Stern's diary and more than 300 photographs taken by him in North Africa, Sicily and Europe during the war.
The exhibition: "The look beyond the war. 1942/1943 Unpublished photographs by Phil Stern ", curated by Ezio Costanzo, proposes a series of unpublished photographs by Phil Stern taken during the Second World War that contain compositional elements that go beyond the ritual documentation of the war event. The gaze of the young American photographer, in fact, focuses not only on aspects of military life but also on the context that surrounds him, immortalizing the environment and the people with whom he interacts, managing to capture moments of extreme compositional beauty. The images presented in the exhibition are part of the personal archive of the Second World War by the American photographer (about three thousand negatives) that the Stern family has entrusted to the historian Ezio Costanzo for cataloging, curating and studying. The OELLE Foundation took over the digitization of the important archive, with this further effort to increase the existing collection of the Phil Stern Pavilion, also creating an exhibition space that can host other photographic exhibitions related to the theme of World War II and to the specifics of the Museum of the Landing that hosts it.
The exhibition is enriched with an interactive sound installation by Michele Spadaro, sound engineer.
In the space of the Pavilion will be exhibited, for the occasion, an unpublished photograph of Robert Capa, taken in 1943 in Sicily, part of the collection recently acquired by the Pintauradi Troina Foundation.
On 10 July 2021, the foundation expands again the collection already on display with a further 35 photographs selected from the archives of the American photographer with unpublished images of Italian prisoners in North Africa and of the war in Sicily. Unpublished photographs, even of civilian life on the island, which Stern managed to steal by capturing moments that I was talking about his memory.
illuminated bodies supplied by: 
