Abelardo Morell (Cuban, b. 1948)

Morell’s family fled Cuba at the height of the Cold War, in 1962, and arrived in New York City where he began his formal art studies at Bowdoin College.  He received a BFA from Bowdoin in 1977 and an MFA from Yale University School of Art in 1981.  Of particular interest to Morell has been the use of a camera obscura, an ancient technique of projecting images from outside a room, into a room, through a small aperture. The first part of his career was dedicated to this process and to photographing the results of these projections.  He is also recognized for his invention of what he terms a “tent-camera” which merges landscapes with the texture and composition of the ground where he places his camera and tripod.  He has received numerous awards including the Cintas Foundation Fellowship (1992), the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1993), and the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award (2011).

A retrospective exhibition of his work was presented by the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013 titled “Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door” which also traveled to the Getty Center in Los Angeles.  Eight books of his photographs have been published and his works are in numerous Museum collections worldwide. 

Available Works