This Rare Leica MP Was Owned by the First Paparazzo and Could Be Yours for $200,000
A rare Leica MP owned by Tazio Secchiaroli, credited as being one of Italy’s first paparazzi, will go on sale at the Leitz Photographica Auction next month.
The piece of photographic history will be offered at an auction in Wetzlar, Germany. Described as Secchiaroli’s “personal camera,” the chrome Leica MP is numbered “368” and comes with a Summicron 2/5cm lens. “The outfit is preserved in good, used condition, showing honest signs of professional use consistent with its historical role,” the Leitz auction adds.
Included with the camera and lens is Secchiaroli’s book, The Original Paparazzo, which mentions the Leica MP and the specific serial number. “This rare and direct documentary reference firmly links the camera to the photographer and significantly enhances its historical relevance,” says Leica.
As Fstoppers notes, the original Leica MP series was only short-lived (the modern MP line started in 2003). Secchiaroli’s Leica has the Leicavit rapid advance base unit attached, which allowed photographers to shoot two photos per second — pretty fast for back in the day.
Who Was Tazio Secchiaroli?
Secchiaroli was born in 1925 in a town not far from Rome. He founded Roma Press Photo in 1955 and essentially created a photographic style that hadn’t previously existed.
Before the arrival of the paparazzi, pictures of film stars and celebrities were carefully taken in studios and handed out to the public. But Secchiaroli began prowling the Via Veneto, one of Rome’s most exclusive streets, on his Vespa looking for scandals.
“Secchiaroli sparked the development of a whole new aesthetic in photography,” art dealer James Hyman told The Times of London in 2009. “There were whole gangs of them speeding around Rome chasing celebrities on their Vespas.”
Secchiaroli would become the inspiration for the “Paparazzo” character, played by Walter Santesso, in the iconic 1960 Italian film, La Dolce Vita. The director, Federico Fellini, would buy dinner for Secchiaroli and his friends while listening to their exploits. The film literally invented the word “paparazzi” — it’s still used to describe celebrity-chasing photographers to this day.
But by the time La Dolce Vita came out, Secchiaroli had become more an insider of the Italian film industry, and had left the “attack photography” — as he called it — behind. Instead, photographing stars in more formal settings.
The Leitz Auction Number 48 will commence in Wetzlar on June 13. For further details, and to see all the lots, visit the Leitz Photographica Auction website.
Image credits: Courtesy of Leitz Photographica Auction
