Hartford Seen

By Pablo Delano, Laura Wexler and Guillermo B Irizarry

Hartford Seen is the first modern-day art photography book focused exclusively on Connecticut's capital city. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Pablo Delano relocated from Manhattan to Hartford in 1996 to teach photography at Trinity College. On his daily drive to work, he was struck continually by the city's visual beauty and complexity. He left the car and began to explore, using his camera as a means of gaining a deeper understanding of what he found.

In this personal meditation on Harford's built environment, Delano implements a methodical but intuitive approach, scrutinizing the layers of history embedded in the city's fabric. He documents commercial establishments, industrial sites, places of worship, and homes with a painter's eye to color and composition. His vision tends to eschew the city's better-known landmarks in favor of vernacular structures that reflect the tastes and needs of the city's diverse population at the dawn of the 21st Century.

Over the last 100 years Hartford may have transformed from one of America's wealthiest cities to one of its poorest, but as suggested by Hartford Seen, today it nevertheless enjoys extraordinary cultural offerings, small entrepreneurship, and a vibrant spiritual life. The city's historical palette consists mostly of the brownstone, redbrick, and gray granite shades common in New England's older cities. Yet Delano perceives that it is also saturated with the blazing hues favored by many of its newer citizens. With more than 150 full-color images,Hartford Seen vitally expands the repertoire of photographic studies of American cities and of their contemporary built environments.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9780819579263

Pablo Delano

Pablo Delano is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Fine Arts at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Solo exhibitions of his photographs have been held in galleries and museums throughout the USA, Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he has published several books of photography, including Faces of America and In Trinidad.

Book preview

HARTFORD SEEN

New Park Avenue, 2013

HARTFORD SEEN

Pablo Delano

Introduction by Laura Wexler

Essay by Guillermo B. Irizarry

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS

Middletown, Connecticut

This book is dedicated with love and respect to Hartford’s

greatest Picture-Takin’ Man, Juan Fuentes Vizcarrondo.

Wesleyan University Press

Middletown CT 06459

www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

© 2020 Pablo Delano

Introduction: Split City © Laura Wexler

Hartford Unseen © Guillermo B. Irizarry

All rights reserved

Printed in China

Designed by Karla Pámanes / CO:LAB Typeset in Univers

This book is part of HartfordBooks, a series developed through a partnership of Wesleyan University Press and the University of Hartford, and supported by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. wesleyan.edu/wespress/hartfordbooks

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Delano, Pablo, author.

Title: Hartford seen / Pablo Delano ; introduction by Laura Wexler ; essay by Guillermo B. Irizarry.

Description: Middletown, Connecticut : Wesleyan University Press, [2020] | Series: Hartfordbooks | Summary: Photographs and accompanying essays capture the complex layering of culture and history in Connecticut’s urban capitol— Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019042790 (print) | LCCN 2019042791 (ebook) | ISBN 9780819579256 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780819579263 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Photography—Connecticut—Hartford. | Hartford (Conn.)—Pictorial works.

Classification: LCC TR25.H37 D45 2020 (print) | LCC TR25.H37 (ebook) | DDC 770.9746/3—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019042790

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019042791

5 4 3 2 1

Cover photo: Broad Street, 2013

Front cover photograph by Pablo Delano.

HartfordBooks

HartfordBooks is a book series that seeks to rediscover Hartford’s philosophies, people large and small, history, and culture. The series is supported by the University of Hartford, Wesleyan University Press, and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

CONTENTS IN CONTEXT

PP viii – ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PP x – xi

INTRODUCTION: Split City

by Laura Wexler

PP 001 – 007

ESSAY: Hartford Unseen

by Guillermo B. Irizarry

PP 008 – 031

PP 032 – 039

PP 040 – 067

PP 068 – 083