Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Manuel Álvarez Bravo was a teenager when he first picked up a camera and began taking pictures, before he enrolled in night classes in painting at the Academia San Carlos, in 1917, or sought instruction in the darkroom of local German photographer Hugo Brehme. Initially self-taught, Álvarez Bravo’s style developed through study of foreign and local photography journals. In these pages, he first encountered the work of Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, who came to Mexico in 1923; the latter became a close colleague and supporter, introducing Álvarez Bravo to the artists of Mexico’s avant-garde, including Diego Rivera, Frida Khalo, and Rufino Tamayo, as well as encouraging him to send photographs to Weston.
In the 1930s, Álvarez Bravo met Paul Strand, traveling with him while he worked in Mexico, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. With Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans he exhibited in a three-man show at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York, in 1935. Mexico was a cultural hub for many in the international avant-garde in these years; André Breton visited, including Álvarez Bravo in the Exposition of Surrealism he organized in 1940 in Mexico City. Although the artist never identified with Surrealism, it was a major theme in the analysis of his pictures throughout his career. Revealing the influence of his formative years following the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Álvarez Bravo would instead speak of his interest in representing the cultural heritage, peasant population, and indigenous roots of the Mexican people in the face of rapid modernization.
Introduction by Mitra Abbaspour, Associate Curator, Department of Photography, 2014
- Introduction
- Manuel Álvarez Bravo (February 4, 1902 – October 19, 2002) was a Mexican artistic photographer and one of the most important figures in 20th century Latin American photography. He was born and raised in Mexico City. While he took art classes at the Academy of San Carlos, his photography is self-taught. His career spanned from the late 1920s to the 1990s with its artistic peak between the 1920s and 1950s. His hallmark as a photographer was to capture images of the ordinary but in ironic or Surrealistic ways. His early work was based on European influences, but he was soon influenced by the Mexican muralism movement and the general cultural and political push at the time to redefine Mexican identity. He rejected the picturesque, employing elements to avoid stereotyping. He had numerous exhibitions of his work, worked in the Mexican cinema and established Fondo Editorial de la Plástica Mexicana publishing house. He won numerous awards for his work, mostly after 1970. His work was recognized by the UNESCO Memory of the World registry in 2017.
- Wikidata
- Q712262
- Introduction
- Alvarez Bravo's unique photography combined Mexican subject matter with influences from foreign artists. He was an instrumental figure, along with the painters Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, in the artistic renaissance in Mexico that flourished after the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1921. The J. Paul Getty Museum honored the artist for his 100th birthday with a major exhibition in 2001-2002 entitled "Manuel Alvarex Bravo: Optical Parables."
- Nationality
- Mexican
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Photographer
- Names
- Manuel Alvarez Bravo, M. Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Álvarez Bravo
- Ulan
- 500028115
Exhibitions
-
510: Machines, Mannequins, and Monsters
Oct 21, 2019–Sep 7, 2020
MoMA
Collection gallery
-
Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection,
1909–1949 Dec 13, 2014–Apr 19, 2015
MoMA
-
Photography Rotation 8
May 13, 2011–Mar 12, 2012
MoMA
-
The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today
Aug 1–Nov 1, 2010
MoMA
-
The Printed Picture
Oct 17, 2008–Jul 13, 2009
MoMA
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo has
29 exhibitionsonline.
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Sympathetic Nervous System 1929
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Laughing Mannequins 1930
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Daydream 1931
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Optical Parable 1931
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Optical Parable 1931
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Ladder of Ladders 1931
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Burial at Metepec 1932
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Daughter of the Dancers 1933
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Eclipse 1933
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo She of the Fine Arts 1933
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Recent Grave 1933
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Conversation near the Statue 1933
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Recent Grave 1933
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Crouched Ones 1934
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Striking Worker, Assassinated 1934
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Public Thirst 1934
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Crouched Ones 1934
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Striking Worker, Assassinated 1934
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Portrait of the Eternal 1935
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Salt Workers in Cuyutlán 3 1938
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Set Trap 1930s
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Good Reputation Sleeping 1938-39
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo René d'Harnoncourt 1930s
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Set Trap 1930s
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Earth Itself 1930s
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo How Small the World Is 1942
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Somewhat Gay and Graceful 1942
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Crossing at Chalma 1942
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Somewhat Gay and Graceful 1942
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo A Fish Called Sierra 1944
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Day of Glory 1940s
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Kiln 1957
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Mother of the Shoeshine Boy and the Shoeshine Boy 1950s
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Reeds Used for Mounting Nets to Catch Lake Flies Eaten by the Tzentzontles 1964
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Untitled c. 1960
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Untitled c. 1960
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Color 1966
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Untitled 1966
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Cemetery Wall 1967
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Red Shadows c. 1964
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Pinwheels c. 1965
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Invented Landscape 1972
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Coyoacan, Mexico, D.F 1975
-
Manuel Álvarez Bravo Venus 1977
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
All requests to license audio or video footage produced by MoMA should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in MoMA’s Film Collection cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. For access to motion picture film stills please contact the Film Study Center. More information is also available about the film collection and the Circulating Film and Video Library.
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication or moma.org, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].