This month at the Fine Arts Museum, the book O’Reilly. Calle de los fotógrafos

The Antonio Rodríguez Morey Information Center of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana features among its recent highlights for this month of June the book O’Reilly. Calle de los fotógrafos, published in 2019 by Ediciones Boloña of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana.

Resulting from the research conducted by historians Arturo Pedroso and Grethel Morell, this book delves into the historic city artery that served as a commercial corridor since colonial times and, under that condition, embraced the art and craft of photography almost from its introduction in Cuba in the mid-19th century.

The book also contributes to documenting a rarely explored artistic expression and historical period.

Spanning over 120 pages, the authors identify 118 photographic establishments located on this street, a significant increase from the previously known eight.

To achieve this research milestone, they reviewed the documentary and photographic collections of the National Archives, the National Library, the Fototeca of Cuba, and the Office of the Historian. This search also enabled the confirmation of an abundant gallery of images, accompanied by a list of photographers and establishments, along with an extensive, readable theoretical corpus.

Source: Monthly Bulletin No. 5 / The Open Window of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba