Published in Miami photo book of Rosita Fornés

June 27, 2021

Rosa María Medel, daughter of Rosita Fornés, and her husband, José Antonio Jiménez, have just published in Miami the first book of photographs of Cuba's great vedette.

"This will really be a collector's book because only 100 copies have been printed," Jiménez told CiberCuba.

"I'm very happy, giving thanks to God. It's not that I'm the daughter, it's that the book is beautiful," added Rosa María Medel.

The volume, 208 pages, titled "Rosita Fornés", includes 170 images of the artist. The black and white photos were taken between 1953 and 1957, without artificial light, by a photographer from Cuban television studios named Rodolfo López Sarría. All were taken during the programs of that era that aired live.

The book also brings together articles by Rufino del Valle and Ramón Cabrales, two scholars of Cuban photography, who provide a review of López Sarría's work.

It also contains a biography of Rosita Fornés written by her son-in-law, presented with a photo in which José Antonio Jiménez believes the Cuban diva far surpasses the beauty of María Félix.

Jiménez recounts that he mentioned this to Rosita Fornés and the vedette rejected the compliment because she felt she could not overshadow an extraordinary woman like María Félix. "She was that modest," her son-in-law emphasizes.

During her lifetime, Rosita Fornés was excited about the idea of making a book with the many photos she kept from the 50s, but the project kept being postponed and is coming out now, as the first anniversary of the death of the great Cuban diva approaches—she lived in Miami but was buried in Havana.

If the project works out, the family is considering continuing to release, anniversary after anniversary, the photos that capture how much Rosita Fornés worked.

Those interested in acquiring the book "Rosita Fornés" should contact the publisher Voces de Hoy, of Miami (vocesdehoyeditorial@gmail.com, phone 305-877-8259).