Sombreros, Santiago de Cuba

Osvaldo Salas

Osvaldo Salas was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to New York. By the end of World War II, Salas had fallen in love with photography and he won his first award in 1947. As a publicity photographer, his work was published in Life magazine as well as The New York Times. When Fidel Castro visited the United States in 1955 to raise funds for the revolution, Salas was assigned to photograph him in New York City.

Osvaldo Salas left the US to return to Cuba in 1959 where he was able to photograph Fidel Castro and many leaders of the revolution. He stayed in Havana for the rest of his life, continuing to document the people of the island.

"Sombreros" was originally shot in 1962. Osvaldo's son Roberto Salas, also a photographer, began to reprint many of his images to offer to an expanding market. This impression is one of those reprints, signed, titled, and dated by Roberto. There is a blind-stamp "Salas S Cuba" in the lower-left corner. On the verso it is annotated in ink: "Negative by Osvaldo Salas / Printed by Roberto Salas / Limited edition Cuba."

There are also 2 ink stamps that read: "Osvaldo Salas Estate / Havana, Cuba / Roberto Salas, Executor" with Roberto's ink signature, and: "This is an Original Image From the Salas Archives and Estate, Havana Cuba / Protected by U.S. and Universal Copyright Laws."