Object Details
- Artist
- Alexis Rodríguez-Duarte, born 1962
- Stylist
- Tico Torres, born 1961
- Sitter
- Celia Cruz, 21 Oct 1925 - 16 Jul 2003
- Exhibition Label
- Born Havana, Cuba
- Celia Cruz’s dynamic performances, rich voice, and flamboyant attire brought her to the stage of Havana’s famed Tropicana nightclub in the 1950s. Shortly after Fidel Castro seized power of Cuba in 1959, Cruz left the island for a one-year contract in Mexico, never to return. She defected in 1961. Eventually, Cruz settled in New York City, where her music was initially considered old-fashioned. By the 1970s, however, when the new genre of salsa saturated the airwaves and filled the nightclubs, she had become its reina (queen). Her songs, while speaking to pan-Latino audiences, also became a direct connection to Cuba for the thousands of exiles living in the United States and elsewhere in the world. As artist Alexis Rodríguez-Duarte has noted, Cruz “brought [people] home again.” For this portrait session held in Miami, she sang acapella in a traditional guarachera dress while placed against a backdrop that evokes 1950s Havana.
- Nacida en La Habana, Cuba
- Las dinámicas presentaciones de Celia Cruz, su voz resonante y su llamativo vestuario la propulsaron al escenario del famoso club Tropicana de La Habana en los años cincuenta. Poco después de que Fidel Castro subiera al poder en Cuba en 1959, Cruz abandonó la isla para presentarse en México con contrato de un año, y nunca regresó. En 1961 pidió asilo político. Cruz terminó por radicarse en Nueva York, donde al principio su música se consideró anticuada. No obstante, para los años setenta, cuando el nuevo género de la salsa saturó los programas radiales y clubes nocturnos, Cruz se convirtió en su reina. A la vez que hablaban a un público panamericano, sus canciones ofrecían una conexión directa con la patria a los miles de exiliados cubanos que vivían en Estados Unidos y otros países. Como señala el artista Alexis Rodríguez-Duarte, Cruz “nos trajo de vuelta a casa”. Cuando posó para este retrato en Miami, Cruz cantó a capela vestida de guarachera, con un fondo tropical que evoca La Habana de los años cincuenta.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquisition made possible through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center
- 1994 (printed 2016)
- Object number
- NPG.2016.78
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © 1994, Alexis Rodriguez-Duarte
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Inkjet print
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 76.4 × 60.8 cm (30 1/16 × 23 15/16")
- Place
- United States\Florida\Dade\Coral Gables
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Costume\Jewelry\Earring
- Exterior
- Nature & Environment\Plant\Tree\Palm
- Costume\Jewelry\Necklace\Choker
- Celia Cruz: Female
- Celia Cruz: Arts & Culture\Performing Arts\Musician\Singer
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2016.78
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4ab74e0ba-2217-425b-915d-6ed9bd627ba4
