The photo archives of LIFE
magazine
reveal historic flamenco snapshots
Carmen Amaya, Rosario and Antonio, Vicente Escudero and
Lola Flores are some of the artists photographed between
the years 1940 and 1960
S.C./Flamenco-world.com, November 2008
A few days ago, Time Inc. made
a surprising announcement: that it would post the photo
archives of the historic magazine ‘LIFE’ on
the search engine Google. So far, two million photos from
the 19th and 20th centuries are already available, most
of which were previously unpublished, out of the ten million
which it intends to upload. And flamenco is also amidst
these precious photos of the main personages and events
of the past two centuries. Carmen Amaya, Vicente Escudero,
Lola Flores and the couple consisting of Rosario and Antonio
are some of the stars in these hitherto concealed jondo
albums.
In the photographs now revealed by ‘LIFE’
- the magazine published in New York between 1883 and 2007
- the extraordinary importance is broadly documented which
Carmen
Amaya, Vicente
Escudero, Rosario
and Antonio, and José
Greco had on the artists’ scene in the U.S. in
the ’40s and ’50s. There are dozens of snapshots
of their dancing captured by photographers as prestigious
as Gjon Mili, before whose camera great jazz and dance figures
appeared such as Billie Holiday and Gene Kelly. There are
photos stored among them as impressive as the snapshot of
Lola Flores dated 1940.
Also reflected in these albums is how the
photo-reporters of the outstanding New York publication
were enticed by the most picturesque flamenco stages. In
August 1960, Loomis Dean was at the Madrilenian tablao El
Corral de la Morería photographing artists like María
Albaicín. Dmitri Kessel plunged into a party in the
caves of Granada in 1949. And joining them are photos as
curious as that of Gracia del Sacromonte dancing for the
soldiers of the Norwegian destroyer ‘Trondheim’,
that of the daughter of the American ambassador to Spain
John D. Lodge taking a baile class or a Jerez-style party
in honor of actress Esther Williams.
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