Cuba
When Paolo Gasparini came to Havana in 1961, he had to rethink his approach to photography. After Fidel Castro's siezure of power, “the speed of social and cultural events in Cuba made me change my camera,” he later explained. Swapping his larger-format reflex cameras for a nimble 35mm, Gasparini distanced himself from the spare, architectural compositions of his early career and turned his lens to the streets of a city rollicking with post-revolutionary fervor. Here, a crowd of commuters spills onto a Havana street, where buses queue into the distance. The congestion speaks to the historic city’s growing pains at a moment of rapid urbanization. Reaching out of windows and massing around a modern façade, young Cubans test the limits of city infrastructure.
Artwork Details
- Title: Cuba
- Artist: Paolo Gasparini (Venezuelan, born Italy, 1934)
- Date: 1961–65
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 3 9/16 × 5 5/16 in. (9 × 13.5 cm)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2019
- Object Number: 2019.387
- Rights and Reproduction: © Photo Paolo Gasparini
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Vik Muniz
1998
Vik Muniz
1996
Vik Muniz
1996
Vik Muniz
1997
David Lamelas
1974
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.