Earl Leaf’s Rare Images of Mérida from 1952
Known as the “Beatnik Photographer,” famed American lensman Earl Leaf is known for his iconic candid photos of Hollywood stars. He also captured some thoughtful, serene street scenes of Mérida at a fascinating but often overlooked time in its history.
But before we say more about Mérida, here’s a little backstory.
After starting his career in the 1930s, the goateed photographer aimed his camera more typically at nightclub denizens and glamorous locations. Leaf was also a keen documentarian, focusing often on everyday street life in New York, Los Angeles, and other colorful cities. He was among the 20th century’s leading documentary photographers, capturing small moments from everyday life.
In 1951, his portfolio started to fill with Hollywood stars: Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, and lots of blonde bombshells, most notably an ascendant Marilyn Monroe. In January 1952, Marilyn won a “Star of Tomorrow” award, and Earl Leaf was there to record the event.
Also that year, he toured Mexico, starting with the capital, Mexico City, where he took candid photos of young people shopping, dining, and otherwise painting the town red.
Rare images of Mérida capture Yucatán life
Eventually, after stops that included Cuernavaca and Tequesquitengo (the Getty archives include hundreds of photos of this tour), he headed south to Yucatán. He took some scenic, naturalistic shots at a then-sleepy Chichén Itzá and Uxmal.
Then, Leaf spent a day — Tuesday, April 1 to be exact — capturing languid mid-century Mérida. The sisal boom over for at least 25 years by then, Leaf shows us a dignified, if downcast Mérida, in contrast with his pictures of Mexico City, Havana, and Rio’s high life. A hint of modernity, however, does come through as this modernist photographer has captured Mérida as it entered the Atomic age.
Leaf didn’t find glamour and nightlife. No sports cars, but plenty of horses and buggies trailing slowly down the streets.
He depicted a serene Plaza Grande and conservatively attired citizens going about their day.
He encountered quiet streets lacking flashing lights and chic storefronts.
Even the marketplace appears sleepy in Leaf’s small sampling of Mérida in 1952.
It’s hard to know what Leaf’s impressions of Mérida really were, but the few images he left us capture a sober, peaceful city in repose.
We are left with a paparazzo’s impression of Mérida in a period that follows the reign of the hennequin barons, but well before the arrival of chain stores, high-rises, and new arrivals from other states and other countries.
Leaf died in 1980 at the age of 75, never having become a household name, but most of his work mirrors his generation’s approach to unfiltered photojournalism and foreshadows today’s voyeuristic Hollywood culture.
Read more about Leaf’s career from the Getty archivist, and more here, excerpted from ‘Marilyn Monroe: From Beginning to End’ by Michael Ventura.
Lee Steele is the founding director of Mérida-based Roof Cat Media S de RL de CV and has published Yucatán Magazine and other titles since 2012. He was Hearst Connecticut’s Sunday Magazine creative director and worked in New York City for various magazine publishers, including Condé Nast and Primedia, for over 20 years.
