for Creative Photography, University of Arizona,
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Enyeart, James, ed.Decade by Decade: Twentieth-Century
American Photography from the Collection of the Center
for Creative Photography. Boston: Bulfinch Press, Little,
Brown and Company, 1989.
‘‘Exhibiting Photography: Twenty Years at the Center for
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Johnson, William.W. Eugene Smith: A Chronological Bib-
liography, 1934–1980. Bibliography Series, no. 1, Tuc-
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Arizona, 1981.
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23 (1986).
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and Archives at the Center for Creative Photography.
Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, University
of Arizona, 2002.
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ing-Crafts Legacy. edited by James Alinder, Tucson:
Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona,
1996.PHOTOGRAPHY IN CENTRAL
AMERICA
This entry addresses twentieth-century photogra-
phy in the continental countries of Guatemala,
Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
Panama, and the island of Cuba, with additional
references to other Caribbean countries. A descrip-
tion of some Central American photographers and
their explorations and work in photography fol-
lows a brief look at historical references and prin-
cipal themes to twentieth-century photography in
Central America.
Photography arrived in Central America soon
after its invention. Pioneer photographers in Cen-
tral American countries include: O. Salvin (1861)
and E. Muybridge (1870) in Costa Rica; J.
Washington (1841) and Bennet (1842) in the
Dominican Republic; R. Alexander (1852), Char-
ney (1859), and W. Bradley (1859) in El Salvador;
W. Helsby (1844), Osbert Salvin (1861) in Guate-
mala; W. Bradley (1859), O. Salvin (1861) in Hon-
duras; A. Molina (1856), E. Mestre (1858) in
Nicaragua; E. Muybridge (1870), Timothy O’Sulli-
van (1870) in Panama; J. Washington (1840), Anto-
nio Rezzonico (1841), Halsey (1841), R.W. Hoit
(1841), J.de J. Quintiliano (1855), Molina (1855),
Esteban Mestre (1856), Francisco Serrano (1857),
C.M. Suarez Arango (1859), Encarnacion Irastegui
(1859), and Francisca Madero (1859) in Cuba.
Professional photographers have been active in
Central America throughout the twentieth cen-
tury, including photographers specializing in stu-
dio portraiture, journalists specializing in
reportage and documentation, and artists using
the medium as expression for its own sake. Photo-
graphy was also present in rural areas of Central
America, many towns and villages having their
own studio photographer. Through the end of
the century, it was common that itinerate photo-
graphers traveled from town to town selling their
services, in some cases utilizing ingenious ways to
make the craft of photography a mobile business.
Some photographers used handmade cameras
large enough for tiny trays of chemistry inside.
The camera produces a paper negative that is
developed then rephotographed for the positive
image, a 30-minute process from exposure to
damp but finished photograph.
For most of the twentieth century, little informa-
tion is available on photography in Central Amer-
ica, and drawing broad conclusions from the
available information is problematic for several
reasons. First, Maria Cristina Orive from Argen-
tina describes part of the problem as a heretofore
excessively commercial and colonialist market
dominated by large foreign firms such that even
in their own countries many do not know what
has been achieved, exhibited or published. Sec-
ondly, much of the available information is about
Latin America in general but not necessarily invol-CENTER FOR CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY