An exile from his native Germany, where he had graduated as an industrial engineer, worked as a motion picture technician, and lived under the threat of Nazism, Hans Gutmann Guster (1911–1982) began his career as a self taught photographer in the 1930s.
Testimonies to a wandering life, his images taken in Europe also reflect his closeness to Leftist political movements. During the Spanish Civil War, under the name of Juan Guzmán, he served the Republican cause as a brigade volunteer and photographer. Like other refugees from Spain, he found asylum in Mexico, where he worked as a photojournalist.
