Byron Zadik & Co.

Lithographers, Guatemala City

Guatemalan postcards entered the era of chromes thanks to a woman photographer and Lito. B. Zadik & Co.  As machinery for improved processing and offset printing for Kodachrome film became available throughout North and Central America, the public reacted enthusiastically to the new offerings of postcards printed in full, natural color.  Several photographers are credited on the backs of Zadik postcards -- Helen Williams, Joya Heirs, George Holton, Rafael Ortiz, Guillermo Rosenbaum, Julio Zadik and Pablo Sittler.  (Sittler's work is  a separate page in this web site.)

Helen S. Williams

The National Geographic Magazine revisited Guatemala in its October 1947 issue, which includes a photo credit for a Kodachrome by Helen S. Williams.  Among the first color cards Zadik printed were Kodachromes by Helen Williams.  These appear to be the first instances of work being credited to a woman photographer not only on Guatemalan but also on Mexican postcards.

George Holton

Rafael Ortiz J.

Julio Zadik

Most all of the postcards published by Lito. B. Zadik y Cía. are credited to Julio Zadik.  Besides providing views for the tourist trade, Zadik carried on the grand tradition of Guatemalan portraiture.  The postcard backs are sometimes in English and sometimes in Spanish.  Sometimes the image on the front is precisely identified, and sometimes not.  The latest known postmark is 1978.  The writer mentions going through the area devastated by earthquakes in February 1976, and she adds, "They have pretty things here."  Another writer tells that she taught English in the former San Carlos Hotel (see below).