Cuba Then: Rare and Classic Images from the Ramiro Fernandez Collection

Cuba Then: Rare and Classic Images from the Ramiro Fernandez Collection

Vintage photos from one of the largest archives of Cuban photography in the world capture the island’s history. <br><br>The enduring fascination of Cuba intensifies as the island once again becomes a seductive travel destination. From Ramiro Fernández, whose collection of Cuban photography and ephemera is one of the largest outside of the island nation, comes a dazzling array of images of Cuban life, lifestyle, glamour, customs, and struggle from the nineteenth century to the Revolution.<br><br>From the earliest daguerreotypes to glamorous shots of movie stars, the country’s history is represented by a rich spectrum of personalities: race-car driving aristocrats, sultry showgirls, gangsters, everyday folk, and revolutionaries who would soon transform the nation. Rare images are showcased: a portrait of Castro as a schoolboy, a bare-chested Che Guevara, and Heinz Lüning, the only Nazi spy executed in Latin America during World War II (and the unwitting inspiration for Graham Greene’s <i>Our Man in Havana</i>). <br><br>With nearly 300 exceptional images and a foreword and poetry by Richard Blanco, the poet selected for President Obama's second inauguration, this is a multifaceted look at Cuba, then.