Elias del Aguila was born in Tarapoto in 1875. He was disciple, collaborator and close friend to Portuguese photographer Manuel Moral. In 1903, when Moral opens a new studio at Mercaderes Street in Callao, Del Aguila takes over the studio that Moral previously had at 23-25 Mantas Street in Lima, where he worked until the decade of 1930. He was the favourite photographer of Lima's middle class, which started its formation on the early decades of the 20th century. His photographic archive of over 30 000 negatives of silver gelatin on glass and plastic supports (nitrate and acetate film) is stored at the Historical Archive of Centro de la Imagen.
Elias del Águila nació en Tarapoto en 1875. Fue discipulo, colaborador y amigo cercano del fotógrafo portugués Manuel Moral. En 1903, cuando Moral abre su estudio en la calle Mercaderes, Del Águila asume el estudio que Moral habia tenido en los números 23 y 25 de la calle Mantas, donde trabajó al menos hasta entrada la década de 1930. Fue el fotógrafo favorito de la clase media limeña, la cual empezó su formación en las primeras décadas del siglo XX. Su acervo fotográfico de más de 30 000 negativos de plata gelatina en soportes de vidrio y plástico (nitrato y acetato de celulosa) se resguarda en el Archivo Histórico del Centro de la Imagen.
Extent: 23 680 silver gelatin glass plate negatives and 7660 silver gelatin negatives on plastic support (nitrate and acetate film).
Custodial history: In 2011, thanks to the efforts of Jan Mulder, Centro de la Imagen acquired a large collection of photographs. This collection belonged to artist Andres Herrera, which he acquired gradually since 1980 from different people and for commercial purposes: selling photographs and reproductions in his gallery in Downtown Lima. After the acquisition of the collection by Mr. Mulder, in 2012, a storage area was implemented with controlled environmental conditions (suitable for glass plates but not for film) and the Historical Archive of Centro de la Imagen was created. The conservation area and the Archive were left in charge of restorer Cecilia Salgado, who was Head of the department from 2012 until 2017. Since 2017, conservator of photographic heritage Natalia Ulloa is in charge of the Archive. Fifteen boxes of negatives were digitised as part of the EAP project.
Author(s)/Creator(s): Elias del Aguila.
