Nicolás Guillén.

Vintage gelatin silver print -measures: 18 x 12.5 cm / 7.08 x 4.92 in- with the wet stamp on the back, stating, “Photo: Ursel Bernarth. Calle de los Ángeles 14. Col. del Valle. Mexico. D. F. Tel: (...)”. Work in good condition.

The United Mexican States -as well as other Latin American countries- were favored by the special immigration of talented photographers from Central Europe since before World War II. Being part of that select group was the German Ursula Bernath; A widow with three children, she arrived in 1946 and, very soon, joined the national photographic trend thanks to her mentor, the Czech filmmaker Viktor Albrecht Blum, who connected her to relevant figures of local culture such as the muralist Diego Rivera, and the Swiss anthropologist, ethnographer and photographer Gertrude Duby Blom, thus becoming interested in the documentation of the indigenous world, of which her sensitive records made her an unavoidable reference point.

In addition, Ursel (his original name) Bernath also made characterized portraits of cultural personalities, as is the case in this record of the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén (1902 - 1989), considered the benchmark of black poetry or as he preferred to define it, "Mulatto". Guillén deeply appreciated Mexico, which he visited for the first time in 1937, as he expressed in several of his poems.

We appreciate the information provided by the Mexican specialist, Dr. Laura González Flores.