Born in Barga, Italy in 1900, Conti emigrated with his parents to Providence, Rhode Island in 1903. Upon graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1923, he was awarded two scholarships to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and Academie Julian, both in Paris, France. During his time in Europe he also resided at the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria del Monte in Cesana, Italy. During the Great Depression in the late 1930s, he received contracts through the Works Progress Administration to paint two murals in Rhode Island; one at Samuel Slater Junior High School, Pawtucket and the second at Edwards Hall at the University of Rhode Island, Kingstown. During the late 1950s through the early 1970s, Conti began photographing people on the Hopi, Apache and Navaho (Dine) Reservations, and the Tarahumana people of Northern Mexico. He also taught Art at the Gordon School in Providence in the 1950s and 60s. After his death in 1983, over 3,700 photographs, a large Katsina doll collection and a number of objects from American Southwest, Northern Mexico and elsewhere were bequeathed to the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Costs of reproducing documentary materials and photographs may be charged to investigators. No distinctions in such charges shall be made on the basis of the value or rarity of the original materials. Methods of reproduction may be limited if necessary to protect the originals from possible damage.
All responsible investigators shall have access to the collection for legitimate research and study, subject to procedures necessary to safeguard the objects and to restrictions required by limitations of normal operating hours, exhibition requirements, available study space and facilities, and the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology staff time.
Rhode Island artist and photographer Gino E. Conti took over 3,700 photographs in the summers of 1958, 1962-1965, and 1969-1973 primarily on the Hopi, Apache and Navaho (Dine) reservations, and included visits to northern Mexico. During these travels Conti also collected a large number of Hopi Katsina dolls (including a large sample by artist Wilson Tawaquaptewa) blankets, pottery and other objects. The ethnographic collection and photographs along with accompanying materials were bequeathed to the museum after Conti's death in 1983. The collection also includes a number of items not related to the photographic collection such as postcards, religious and architectural images, newspaper clippings and a few exhibition flyers featuring Conti’s work.
Gino E. Conti Collection, GEC, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University
Collection is arranged into five series by collection number and type of materials.
Bequeathed to the Haffenreffer Museum by the Estate of Gino E. Conti in 1985.
Photographic slides cataloged in 1997. Collection arranged and described by Anthony M. Belz, July 2013.
The
Over 3,700 images; photographs, slides and negatives from the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. Includes
Postcards to and from Gino Conti from various locations, mostly Europe. Includes a letter.
Exhibition flyers, religious art and architectural images.
Newspaper and magazine articles mentioning the life and work of Gino Conti and a reference book on the Tarahumana.
A collection of over four hundred objects with a large number of Katsina dolls collected in the Southwestern United States, Northern Mexico and elsewhere.