• Retrato de Tufiño

    “Retrato de Tufiño*”

    Date 2002
    Dimensions 17 5/8" x 14 3/4"
    Category Photography
    Medium Black and white photograph on paper
    Genre Portrait
    Period 21st Century
    Collection Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico Collection
    Acknowledgement Gift of the artist *Title translation: Portrait of Tufiño

Eduardo Firpi

San Juan, PR, 1951-2011

Biography Details

Photographer. Studied photography and art history at the University of Ohio, United States. He launched his career in 1975 working with Philip Harrington, the renowned photographer who worked for National Geographic, and at other photography studios of important New York artists. Afterwards, studied at the International Center of Photography and New School for Social Research. He settled in Barcelona (Spain) from 1981 until 1994, where he successfully made his first individual exhibition in 1986, in the Sala Arcs de la Caja in Barcelona. His photographs were published in the magazines Vogue, Elle Decor, Vogue Paris, Sunday Times Magazine in London and Domus, Italy. His best known personal work is his series of portraits of personalities from society, the artistic field and popular culture, such as Miró, Mario Vargas Llosa, Almodovar, Joan Manuel Serrat, fashion designers and curators of museums and galleries. After returning to his homeland, he exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, the Ponce Museum of Art and the Museum of the Americas. In 1999 the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico commissioned him to photograph the artists represented in its publication “Talking with Our Artists”, by Eneid Routté Gómez. Another of his photographic portfolios that have been exhibited in several countries around the world is Portraits of Barcelona from 1986. Since 2004 he lived in Bogota, Colombia, his maternal land, where he made his book of portraits of Colombian personalities. He was meticulous selecting the elements to be included in a scene, and always strived to capture and transmit the essence of his subjects.

Artist Statement

The Puerto Rican eye sees latino, sees the luminosity. Mine tries not to mix politics with art. I prefer the salsita. I've portrayed big salseros, as the arranger Cucco Peña, singer Cheo Feliciano or the mentor of Afro-Antillean music, Tite Curet. The salsero does not know what hypocrisy is.

Source: Navarro, Núria: El Periódico de Catalunya (Spain), January, 20, 1996.

Formation

Education

  • Studies. International Center of Photography, NewYork, United States
  • Studies. New School for Social Research, New York, United States
  • Studies of Photography and Art History. Ohio University, Ohio, United States

Professional Experience

  • Permanent collaborator. El Pais Newspaper, Spain
  • Permanent collaborator. Vanguardia Domingo Newspaper, Spain
  • Assistant. Photographer Philip Harrington, National Geographic, New York, United State

Exhibitions

Solo Shows

nd

  • Sala Palau Macaya de la Caixa, Condal, Spain

1986

  • Sala Arcs de la Caja, Barcelona, Spain

Group Shows

nd

  • Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rio
  • Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
  • Museo de las Américas, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2012

  • Interconexiones: Lecturas curatoriales de la Colección del MAPR, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1991

  • Cuatro direcciones: fotografía contemporánea española 1970-1990, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain

1987

  • Retratistas, Arcs de la Caixa, Barcelona, Spain

1984

  • Autorretrats i retrats d'infància, Libreria Tartessos, Barcelona; Galería Guadalquivir, Sevilla, Spain

Collections

  • Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Bibliography

Books

Firpi Samper, Eduardo & Daniel Samper Pizano. Retratos: 20 Años. Letrarte: Bogota, 2006.


Routté Gómez, Eneid & Eduardo Firpi. Conversando con nuestros artistas. San Juan: Puerto Rico: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, 1999. 125 p.


Santos, Manuel. Cuatro direcciones: fotografía contemporánea española 1970-1990. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Barcelona: Lunwerg, 1991.


Firpi, Eduardo. Retratos de Barcelona. Barcelona: Fundación Caixa, 1986.

 

Catalogues 

EL Museo’s Biennial: The (S) Files 2011 The Street Files, El Museo del Barrio, Nueva York, Estados Unidos, 2011. 

 

Newspapers

González, Leyra E. “Trazador de ideas”, El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 5 de julio de 2009.