LITMIR.BIZ

<P>Hartford Seen is the first modern-day art photography book focused exclusively on Connecticut's capital city. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Pablo Delano relocated from Manhattan to Hartford in 1996 to teach photography at Trinity College. On his daily drive to work, he was struck continually by the city's visual beauty and complexity. He left the car and began to explore, using his camera as a means of gaining a deeper understanding of what he found.</P><P>In this personal meditation on Harford's built environment, Delano implements a methodical but intuitive approach, scrutinizing the layers of history embedded in the city's fabric. He documents commercial establishments, industrial sites, places of worship, and homes with a painter's eye to color and composition. His vision tends to eschew the city's better-known landmarks in favor of vernacular structures that reflect the tastes and needs of the city's diverse population at the dawn of the 21st Century.</P><P>Over the last 100 years Hartford may have transformed from one of America's wealthiest cities to one of its poorest, but as suggested by Hartford Seen, today it nevertheless enjoys extraordinary cultural offerings, small entrepreneurship, and a vibrant spiritual life. The city's historical palette consists mostly of the brownstone, redbrick, and gray granite shades common in New England's older cities. Yet Delano perceives that it is also saturated with the blazing hues favored by many of its newer citizens. With more than 150 full-color images, Hartford Seen vitally expands the repertoire of photographic studies of American cities and of their contemporary built environments.</P>

Подробнее

<P>One Hundred Years of Hartt: A Centennial Celebration recounts the development and history of what is now the University of Hartford's The Hartt School, founded in 1920. The school's rich history is highlighted by dynamic and colorful leaders whose deep desire to promote the arts propelled them through a century of challenging world and personal events. Drawing on archives and interviews and lavished with illustrations, this book explores the close, generative relationship between the school and the greater Hartford community—in particular the Jewish and African American communities—from its inception to the twenty-first century. The Hartt School holds unique qualities that continue to distinguish it from other performing arts institutions. These qualities emanated directly from its founders. Through personal and official written communications, school newsletters, speeches, and the exquisite quality of artistic expression, their belief in the value of the arts is continually reinforced, often with great eloquence, sometimes with humor, and always from the heart. This history of The Hartt School highlights the vision and dedication of a school that has enriched the lives of thousands of students and indeed the lives of people who in turn have received the gift of the arts from the school's many illustrious alumni.</P>

Подробнее

<P>Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood is a collection of colorful historical vignettes of an ethnically diverse neighborhood just west of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. Its 1850s row houses have been home to a wide variety of immigrants. During the Revolutionary War, Frog Hollow was a progressive hub, and later, in the mid-late 19th century, it was a hotbed of industry. Reporter Susan Campbell tells the true stories of Frog Hollow with a primary focus on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the inventors, entrepreneurs and workers, as well as the impact of African American migration to Hartford, the impact of the Civil Rights movement and the continuing fight for housing. Frog Hollow was also one of the first neighborhoods in the country to experiment with successful urban planning models, including public parks and free education. From European colonists to Irish and Haitian immigrants to Puerto Ricans, these stories of Frog Hollow show the multiple realities that make up a dynamic urban neighborhood. At the same time, they reflect the changing faces of American cities. Features 38 photos.</P>

Подробнее