Havana

A portrait of Havana before it changes forever. A unique look inside the old mansions of the Cuban capital

Havana. Just saying the name evokes images of bright Caribbean colors, American cars with fins from the 1950s, and once-glorious buildings fallen into ruin. Now that this socialist island country is open once more, this picture will soon change. Now is the time to pause for a moment and take a closer look at Cuba’s capital city. Bernhard Hartmann starts on the streets, showing us cafes, shops, and boxing clubs, but he also takes us behind the facades of the mansions, whose well-worn charms immediately captivate the viewer. Crumbling plaster, cracked walls, worn stair treads — we see all of this in the pictures, and yet these places are vibrant and alive. Traces of bourgeois life, dignified and stylish, survive despite the adversity, masterfully captured in brilliant photographs.

About the Author:

Bernhard Hartmann was born in 1955 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and began working as a photographer for a major German newspaper at the age of 18. While he was still in law school, he became a self-taught landscape and architecture photographer. In addition to solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad, his photos have appeared in German and international publications, and many of his pictures have won awards (the Sony Awards, Epson International Pano Awards, and International Color Awards, among others). Bernhard Hartmann particularly enjoys photographing art venues. He has done photo series of opera houses, theaters, and country manors in Europe.