Gerstmann, Roberto

Gerstmann, born in Vienna, an electrical engineer, became interested in photography from a young age. In 1924, he emigrated to Chile, then traveled to Bolivia, where he took around five thousand photographs, some of which were reproduced in gravure in the album "Bolivia, 150 Copper Engravings," reissued in 1996 by the Quipus Foundation in La Paz. Gerstmann crossed the Altiplano from La Paz at the Argentine border to the south, then to the west and the border with Chile, and eastward to the central valleys, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and the lowlands, toward the Beni and Mamoré rivers. Only the Tarija region and the Chaco escaped his lens. Five of his photos illustrate Stewart E. Mc.Millan's article "The Heart of Aymara Land," published in February 1927 in National Geographic magazine, and some accompany Gustavo-Adolfo Otero's synoptic guide to Bolivia (1929). Gerstmann settled in Santiago in 1929. He published new albums, among which are: "Chile, 280 Copper Engravings" (1932), "Colombia: 200 Copper Engravings" (1951), and "Chile in 110 Pictures" (1960?).