Puerto Rico Mio: Four Decades of Change, in Photographs by Jack Delano

by Arturo Carrion, Jack Delano (Photographer), Alan Fern (Translator)

Overview

Puerto Rico Mio is an extraordinary collection from two series of photographs: the first taken when Delano first went to Puerto Rico with the Farm Security Administration in 1941-42 and the second when he rephotographed those same places in the 1980s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874743890
Publisher:	Smithsonian Institution Press
Publication date:	04/28/1990
Pages:	242
Sales rank:	446,109
Product dimensions:	9.76(w) x 9.73(h) x 0.54(d)

About the Author

Jack Delano was a Farm Security Administration photographer.

Editorial Reviews

Delano, who first visited Puerto Rico in 1941 as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration, returned 40 years later to film again the Puerto Rican landscapes and lives he had come to love. Introduced by four brief essays in both English and Spanish by Delano and educator Arturo Morales Carrion, art historian Alan Fern and anthropologist Sidney W. Mintz, the 175 duotones collected here reflect ‘the ambiguous, divided situation of a country with which the North Americans have not known how to cope.’ Taken individually, his pictures include honest, beautiful, persuasive portraits of farmers and their mules, exquisitely specific domestic still lifes, and poetic evocations of anonymous solitudes.”—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Delano, who first visited Puerto Rico in 1941 as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration, returned 40 years later to film again the Puerto Rican landscapes and lives he had come to love. Introduced by four brief essays in both English and Spanish by Delano and educator Arturo Morales Carrion, art historian Alan Fern and anthropologist Sidney W. Mintz, the 175 duotones collected here reflect ``the ambiguous, divided situation of a country with which the North Americans have not known how to cope.'' But Delano's editorial eye proves implacably unimaginative, undermining the power of his photographic vision. The images are organized according to two indefatigably repeated principles: contrast (in one spread, tobacco fields of decades past abut a new housing development) and timeless constancy (another pair of photos depicts sugarcane laborers of 1941 and 1981 who are all but identical). Yet, taken individually, his pictures include honest, beautiful, persuasive portraits of farmers and their mules, exquisitely specific domestic still lifes, and poetic evocations of anonymous solitudes. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This handsome collection contrasts duotones Delano shot from 1941 to 1942 while working for the Farm Security Administration with photographs of the same places in the 1980s. They document more effectively than prose the island's transformation from an agrarian to a primarily urban culture. Heavy machines cut the surgarcane once harvested by oxen and farmers; women who strung tobacco leaves assemble electronic circuitboards; stevedores, barefooted and barechested when they hauled sacks of coffee and tobacco, now protect themselves with headgear, gloves, and safety shoes to handle manufactured goods. Delano's love for his adopted country and his subjects' enthusiasm for his projects shine from these photographs. Four essays in English and Spanish add cultural, historical, and aesthetic perspectives.-- Lisa Mullenneaux, Iowa City

Library Journal

This book is the first work to describe the architecture of an entire complex society, from the inventive self-built dwellings of the poor to the elegant mansions of the rich. Abundantly illustrated with utilitarian black and white photos and good line-drawings. A sometimes happy, sometimes sad look at change (and no change) in the US colony (officially a commonwealth). Photos taken by Delano in 1941-42 are contrasted with photos he shot of many of the same places in the 1980s. The 175 duotones are accompanied by four fine bilingual essays, one a great reality check by noted anthropologist Sidney W. Mintz. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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