Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation Presents “The History of Dominican Photography”

Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation Presents “The History of Dominican Photography”
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic March 5, 2011

The Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation presented its most recent publication from the Centenary Collection of the León Jimenes Group, titled “The History of Dominican Photography.” The publication, written by historian and writer Jeannette Miller, is comprised of two tomes and is the fruit of 15 years of research which gives the reader a comprehensive look at photography from its origins in the country up until the end of the first decade of the XXI century. The first volume of the collection ends in 1961 and is marked by the final days of the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and the point of inflection in the history of photography, according to Miller. Meanwhile, the second wave of technical transformations, both formal and conceptual, began in the 1960s – the decade of artistic experimentation.

The book was presented by Sarah Hermann, specialist in Visual Arts of the Eduardo León Jimenes Cultural Center, who praised it as a “history of the Dominican image.”

Throughout February and March, the Provincial Offices of Mao, under the direction of Robinson Pineda, supported the participation of the group known as “La Altagracia” at an encounter held in Montecristi. This is one of the cultural groups rescued by the institution.

At the presentation, María Amalia León de Jorge, Director of the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation, praised this contribution saying it represents the Dominican historical memory which she considers to be a constant search for national identity.

As such, Jeannette Miller, recipient of the National Prize in Literature in 2010, catalogued the work as an exhaustive investigation into the origins of photography as well as a synthesis of the country´s most relevant events. 

A trip through the “history of the Dominican image.”

Miller traces the beginnings of the genre from the end of the 19th century as a product of an informative and documentary necessity. Later, she looks its  high point, starting in the 1940s thanks to the rise of modernity which affected many artists and professors exiled in Europe and served to propel photography to new creative heights and quality. In the second book, she analyzes the popularization of photography as well as its inevitable participation in national competitions and biennials.

The book was presented by Sarah Hermann, specialist in Visual Arts of the Eduardo León Jimenes Cultural Center, who praised it as a “history of the Dominican image.”
This investigative research was done under the auspices of the León Jimenes Group through its Centenary Collection, a compilation of books and disks accumulated for the preservation of the Dominican identity and cultural heritage in the areas of artistic, historic, folkloric and natural history.

The art direction and design of the two volumes was done by Lourdes Saleme;  photographic coordination by Mariano Hernández; editorial coordination by Félix Fernández with the index put together by José Chez Checo and José David Chez Abreu.

Donation to the Imagen 83 Foundation
The Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation donated several volumes of “The History of Dominican Photography to the Imagen 83 Foundation which were accepted by its director, Mayra Johnson.