From Publishers Weekly
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. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
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 CityCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Language Notes
Text: English, Spanish

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

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)

Library Journal

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

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