Photography & Ephemera

SALAS, Osvaldo (Cuban, 1914-1992). Blowing Smoke. Havana, 1964. Later printing (1990s) by Roberto Salas from original negative. Silver gelatin print of Che Guevara blowing a puff of smoke into the cool night air. 16 x 20”. One corner bumped. SIGNED AND DATED. Blind-stamp in corner. Salas, Fidel’s Cuba, p. 108/109. Osvaldo Salas emigrated from Havana to New York City when he was fourteen years old. After working odd jobs at Madison Square Garden he took to photographing boxing matches, which allowed him access to some of the most famous fighters in the world. His first photograph to appear in a major publication was of Rocky Marciano’s nose following his second bout with Ezzard Charles on September 17, 1954. He was assigned to photograph Fidel Castro upon his first visit to the United States in 1955 - an assignment which would prove fateful for both men. Salas and his son, Roberto, were invited to visit Castro in Havana shortly after, and for the next four years Osvaldo and Roberto traveled back and forth between the United States and Cuba to photograph the Cuban guerillas’ progress against the regime of Fulgencio Batista. Two days after the guerillas declared victory, Osvaldo and Roberto moved to Havana for good, with Roberto accepting the position of Fidel Castro’s official photographer. Between the two men an invaluable record of Cuba’s first years following Batista’s fall was compiled. The photographs they took - including of the first and only meeting between Fidel Castro and Ernest Hemingway, the aftermath of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, and of Ernesto “Che” Guevara and others - have become iconic in their own right. Their works have since been exhibited in dozens of joint and solo exhibitions around the world and have appeared in numerous books about the Cuban Revolution.