It begins with Gregorio Barrios’s cover of “Alma Llanera,” a popular joropo song that lyrically and sonically pays homage to the plains (Los Llanos) of Venezuela—a region of the country that was extensively photographed by Boulton.
Also included is Alfredo Sadel’s “Diamante Negro,” a song dedicated to one of Venezuela’s most important bullfighters of the 1940s and 1950s, pictured above. At the height of his career, Luis Sánchez Olivares, nicknamed “El Diamante Negro,” became a larger-than-life national figure and was commemorated with this song. In 1952, Boulton created a series of photographs on “Diamante Negro,” which can be viewed in the exhibition.
Listen to these songs and more on Spotify. The exhibition Alfredo Boulton: Looking at Venezuela, 1928-1978 is on view at the Getty Center in English and Spanish through January 7, 2024.
