Hector Acebes Archive

This book presents the exquisite work of Hector Acebes for the first time in monograph form. Over ninety striking images are richly reproduced in duotone. Ed Marquand, director of the Hector Acebes Archive, introduces Acebes in a brief biography. Isolde Brielmaier, a noted art historian of African photography, places Acebes’s African work in the context of other photographers shooting in Africa at the time. She also discusses the qualities of Acebes’s work that distinguish his photographs today.

Reviews

“These black and white photographic images have justifiably been acclaimed as some of the most beautiful photographs of Africans ever taken. Full justice has now been accomplished with respect to bringing a lasting access to Acebes’s photographic artistry to the general public.”
— Midwest Book Review

“[Acebes’s] camera—and his perspective—caught something special. While other photographers used 35mm cameras, which they pointed like a gun at the subject, Acebes preferred a Rolleiflex, a camera he held at belt level, composing the shot by looking down. The photographer could then look up and make eye contact with the subject a second before releasing the shutter. The result captured that bit of personality and humanity so wanting in other photos of that era. Acebes explained that this method was less intimidating and created a personal relationship with the subject.”

— Foreword Magazine