I have always enjoyed the trips with Nancy, and I had never visited Africa, and when I read the invitation, I was not only ready to go, but also invited my grandchild Connor so we could share my love of taking photos. It was a great experience. We had a small group and a superb leader in Cyndy B. Waters, that is a great photographer and loves Kenya and its people. We all had every opportunity to be able to take great photos and have a different experience in each campground. The food was excellent. I was able to get early to go to see the sunrise in the beautiful savannahs and take a second trip to see the magnificent sunsets. My first photo was a giraffe next to a tree with her newborn baby. The animals were not afraid of our cars, comfortable and safe with superb guides. I will have to spend a tremendous amount of time to select what pictures I will print, because each one brings a beautiful peaceful memory of a fantastic time. Return? Yes, for sure, this time I want to see a rhinoceros. -Celso Gonzalez-Falla
Celso Miguel Gonzalez-Falla is the President of the Sondra and Charles Gilman Jr. Foundation, Inc., Vice-President of the Gilman and Gonzalez Arts Foundation, President of The Cintas Foundation, former trustee and Chairman of the Board of Aperture Foundation from 2005-2014. Appointed by Governor Bush as a Texas Art Commissioner, and served from 1997 to 2003. Along with his late wife, Sondra Gilman, they control Soncel Financial, Inc. development of The Lakes, a 1400 acre planned community in Kingsland, Georgia.
Born and educated in La Habana, Cuba, (Colegio de Belen, Universidad Católica de Santo Tomas de Villanueva, Civil Law) Gonzalez left as a Cuban political exile in June of 1961 and arrived in Texas. He started working in the oil industry. In 1968 was a founding partner of a law firm and held various executive positions in the oil, gas and banking businesses from 1965 to 1986. He is a current member of the Texas Bar.
Celso along with his wife Sondra Gilman are avid collectors of photography.
Their collection included numerous loans and exhibitions within the US and abroad. The most recent exhibition in 2018 entitled “The Beauty of the Lines” featured at the Musee l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland, Caillebotte Museum, Yerres, France and Fundacio Foto Colectania, Barcelona, Spain.
“Shared Vision” a show of the collection was created by MOCA-Museum of Contemporary Art of Jacksonville was shown in Jacksonville, Florida in 2011, the Aperture Foundation Gallery, New York in 2012, Princeton University Museum in 2013, Brooks Museum in Memphis in 2014, and the Julie Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University in Alabama in 2014.
“From the Heart,” a show curated by Adam Weinberg started at the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, in 1998, and traveled to Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, Florida in 1998, Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1998, Hood Museum, Dartmouth College in 1999, and Mobile Museum of Art, Alabama in 1999.
The three books celebrating the collection are “The Beauty of Lines” written by Tatyana Franck and Pauline Martin, published by the Musee l’Elysée in 2018. “From the Heart” The Power of Photography-A Collector’s Choice written by Adam Weinberg published by Aperture in 1998. and “Shared Vision” The Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez Collection of Photography, published in 2011 by MOCA.
ART news listed Sondra and Celso in 2004, as one of the top 25 photo collectors and in 2011 as one of the top 10 photo collectors. ART net listed Sondra and Celso in 2015 as one of the top 12 most influential photo collectors.
An interview published by the Spanish magazine Tendencias del Mercado del Arte, in 2015 featured the Gonzalez-Fallas as owners of an “admirable collection.”
Celso and Sondra’s interest in the arts extends to the theatre world. The Gilman & Gonzalez- Falla Theatre Foundation was founded in 1989 supported lyricists and writers in American musical theater. The Gonzalezs were honored with the Theatreworks USA’s Lee Salk “Good Works” Award, Musical Theatre Works’ Award for Distinguished Contributions to Musical Theatre and Urban Stages for work in promoting and supporting musical theater.
Celso’s main passions are Cuba and the collecting and taking of photographs. His first novel “My Lost Cuba” was published in October 2013. A translation: “La Cuba que Perdimos” was published in September 2016.
Celso resides in Corpus Christi, Texas and has homes in Kingsland, Georgia and Manhattan, New York with his dogs Cara and Aengus.
