Publisher's Synopsis
The life and work of two photographers who captured the rise
of Tropical Modern architecture in Miami and the surrounding region
In this first critical biography of the
life and work of Annette and Rudi Rada, two photographers working in
South Florida and the Caribbean from approximately 1946 to 1975,
architectural historian Victor Deupi explores the lasting significance
of the Radas in documenting the cities, buildings, landscapes, and
people of the region during major social and economic transformations of
the twentieth century.
During the South Florida
building boom of the 1950s, the Radas were highly sought-after
photographers. Magazines, newspapers, and travel firms hired the Radas
to help advertise new houses and hotels, promoting the tropics and
subtropics as a still-untouched paradise. In the Caribbean, Rudi Rada
photographed new buildings intruding artistically and commercially into
the natural environment while Annette Rada adopted a more ethnographic
approach, photographing local people amid burgeoning mass tourism.
Whether in South Florida, Cuba, or elsewhere in their travels, the work
of the Radas captured postwar architectural evolution, as well as
challenges faced by populations adapting to modernization.
Featuring a wealth of never-before-published photographs and material from several archives and collections, Rada Photography
adds portrayals of the largely overlooked mid-century architecture of
South Florida and the Caribbean to existing architectural photography in
the US and Latin America. The artistic output of Annette and Rudi Rada
documents how architects and architecture in the region gave shape to
architectural styles now known as Miami Modernism or Tropical Modern.
