Santi Visalli is a highly prolific photojournalist and fine art photographer who has covered the news from social issues to politics to lifestyles. His files contain more than 200,000 photographs of well-known personalities of the last five decades, plus spectacular scenics and cityscapes.
Visalli’s photos appeared in and on the covers of more than 50 magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, Life, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, American Heritage, Paris Match, Stern (in Germany), Oggi, Epoca, and L”Europeo (in Italy), and other international magazines in Sweden, South Africa, Australia, Israel, and Japan.
Expanding to a more permanent form of photojournalistic expression—coffee-table books— Visalli created eleven full-color portraits of major American cities, published by Rizzoli International Publishing in New York. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art curated the Santi Visalli at 90: Una Storia exhibit in 2021, and five of his photographs a part of their collection.
On April 15, 1967, photojournalist Santi Visalli captured images of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr as he gave an anti-Vietnam War speech outside UN Headquarters in New York City. 10 rolls of film were handed over to an airline passenger heading to Milan, serving as a courier to deliver the film for publication.
Three weeks later, Santi learned that the negatives had been misplaced. Fifty-six years later, the images resurfaced.
The four photos of Dr. King were part of the photos that were lost and resurfaced in 2023, and are included in the 16 other photos to be auctioned
