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Portraits in Africa

Marquand Books Studio is pleased to present a new exhibition featuring the work of lauded photographer Hector Acebes. Opening during September’s First Thursday Art Walk in downtown Seattle, Hector Acebes: Portraits in Africa, 1948–1953 features selections from the artist’s extensive travels throughout Africa in the 1940s and 50s. Acebes established a career as a lecturer and professional filmmaker; his work is included in museum collections and galleries in the United States, South America, and Europe.

Acebes was the subject of a traveling museum retrospective organized by Spelman College. His large-scale portraits of rural Africans are remarkably contemporary in feel. Bold, strong, and graphic, his photographs connect emotionally in ways that set his work apart from other explorer/photographers of that era.

Marquand Books produced Hector Acebes: Portraits in Africa, 1948–1953, a 144-page monograph with more than 90 duotone portraits, with text by Isolde Brielmaier and Ed Marquand. Copies will be available at the exhibition opening.

Born in Manhattan in 1921, Hector Acebes was educated in Spain and Columbia before returning to New York City for high school, where he began to study photography. Acebes refined his photographic skills throughout his time as a student at MIT, where he completed an engineering degree. Now 90, Acebes currently resides in Bogota, Colombia with two daughters.

Hector Acebes: Portraits in Africa, 1948–1953

Opening reception Thursday, September 1, 2011 from 5-7 p.m.

Open Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment until October 1.

Marquand Books Studio | Paper Hammer is at 1400 Second Avenue in downtown Seattle.