Under the Cuban Sun
Cuba lies a tantalizing ninety miles off our southern shores. It is an island that has historically been both our friend and our enemy. Nevertheless, it has always hosted a most fascinating sky, which with changing weather conditions, allows the most perfect balance of light and shadow that has forever attracted both native and foreign born photographers.
Throckmorton Fine Art鈥檚 exquisite show, 鈥淯nder the Cuban Sun鈥� dramatically and intelligently helps us to draw the same conclusion: there is something about the quality of Cuban light that is different from any other Caribbean island鈥檚 offering. The brightness it produces is almost blinding. The shadow it creates is infinitely consuming. We look and are forced to look again. And that is what creates the drama of the photographs included in this carefully curated presentation.
The exhibition looks at both the Cuban eye and at its visitors鈥� eye and spans a period of time that is historic: the early 1930鈥檚 to present day. Beginning with Walker Evans and concluding with the work of Ra煤l Ca帽ibano, we take a walk through time and space. They are the monumental bookends for our stroll. Walker Evans first photographed Cuba in the thirties. Ra煤l Ca帽ibano is today鈥檚 masterful Cuban equivalent. Both have directed their gaze toward the nitty gritty of Cuban everyday life: the posed dockworker, the striding school boy. They look out at us with their body language that speaks volumes about the human condition; which without saying a word tells us everything.
The work of Jesse Fernandez records Havana at a pivotal time in its history: the years leading up to the Revolution in 1959. He shows us, in a photojournalist manner, the social scene of that time. Hector Garcia, Alberto Korda, Leo Matiz and Rodrigo Moya memorialize the machismo of the young Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. And not until the 1990鈥檚, when the Soviets withdraw their economic support and hunger arrives on the island, do Cuba鈥檚 photographers turn their cameras back to the population and their daily activities. And they do it at a time when both film and chemicals for printing are scarce as well. The 鈥淪pecial Period鈥� begins and is boldly documented by Fernandez, and his peers: Mario Algaze, Juan Carlos Alom, Jose Antoni Carrera, and Ra煤l Ca帽ibano. These masters of light and shadow make every shot count as there is no room for mistakes during the onset of such depurative times.
It is especially worthwhile to spend time investigating the intimate photos of daily life in Mario Algaze鈥檚 鈥淔rom the Cuba Portfolio鈥� taken during the year 2000. Algaze turns his focus to the quiet isolation that Cuba is experiencing eight years into the 鈥淪pecial Period.鈥� His light capturing technique draws us into the silent despair of the Cuban people and the city that is decaying around them. Even the sea is not their friend, only a barrier that keeps them from crossing to safety.
Also, included are the works by Susan S. Banks, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jane Cytryn, Graciela Iturbide, Joseph Ney, Michael Scalisi and Christophe Von Hohenberg.
The Throckmorton exhibition is both robust and intelligent. It captures Cuba at her best and at her worst. It does not flinch from showing us the truth about a beautiful, proud island documented during an almost eighty-five year period in its amazing and turbulent history. For the collector and for the scholar it connects all the spaces in between Cuba鈥檚 heyday and the Cuba of today.
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Cuba lies a tantalizing ninety miles off our southern shores. It is an island that has historically been both our friend and our enemy. Nevertheless, it has always hosted a most fascinating sky, which with changing weather conditions, allows the most perfect balance of light and shadow that has forever attracted both native and foreign born photographers.
Throckmorton Fine Art鈥檚 exquisite show, 鈥淯nder the Cuban Sun鈥� dramatically and intelligently helps us to draw the same conclusion: there is something about the quality of Cuban light that is different from any other Caribbean island鈥檚 offering. The brightness it produces is almost blinding. The shadow it creates is infinitely consuming. We look and are forced to look again. And that is what creates the drama of the photographs included in this carefully curated presentation.
The exhibition looks at both the Cuban eye and at its visitors鈥� eye and spans a period of time that is historic: the early 1930鈥檚 to present day. Beginning with Walker Evans and concluding with the work of Ra煤l Ca帽ibano, we take a walk through time and space. They are the monumental bookends for our stroll. Walker Evans first photographed Cuba in the thirties. Ra煤l Ca帽ibano is today鈥檚 masterful Cuban equivalent. Both have directed their gaze toward the nitty gritty of Cuban everyday life: the posed dockworker, the striding school boy. They look out at us with their body language that speaks volumes about the human condition; which without saying a word tells us everything.
The work of Jesse Fernandez records Havana at a pivotal time in its history: the years leading up to the Revolution in 1959. He shows us, in a photojournalist manner, the social scene of that time. Hector Garcia, Alberto Korda, Leo Matiz and Rodrigo Moya memorialize the machismo of the young Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. And not until the 1990鈥檚, when the Soviets withdraw their economic support and hunger arrives on the island, do Cuba鈥檚 photographers turn their cameras back to the population and their daily activities. And they do it at a time when both film and chemicals for printing are scarce as well. The 鈥淪pecial Period鈥� begins and is boldly documented by Fernandez, and his peers: Mario Algaze, Juan Carlos Alom, Jose Antoni Carrera, and Ra煤l Ca帽ibano. These masters of light and shadow make every shot count as there is no room for mistakes during the onset of such depurative times.
It is especially worthwhile to spend time investigating the intimate photos of daily life in Mario Algaze鈥檚 鈥淔rom the Cuba Portfolio鈥� taken during the year 2000. Algaze turns his focus to the quiet isolation that Cuba is experiencing eight years into the 鈥淪pecial Period.鈥� His light capturing technique draws us into the silent despair of the Cuban people and the city that is decaying around them. Even the sea is not their friend, only a barrier that keeps them from crossing to safety.
Also, included are the works by Susan S. Banks, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jane Cytryn, Graciela Iturbide, Joseph Ney, Michael Scalisi and Christophe Von Hohenberg.
The Throckmorton exhibition is both robust and intelligent. It captures Cuba at her best and at her worst. It does not flinch from showing us the truth about a beautiful, proud island documented during an almost eighty-five year period in its amazing and turbulent history. For the collector and for the scholar it connects all the spaces in between Cuba鈥檚 heyday and the Cuba of today.
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