Artist Spotlight

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

… the photography of Manuel Alvarez Bravo is Mexican by cause, form and content, anguish is omnipresent and atmosphere is super saturated with irony...

-Diego Rivera



Retrato de lo Eterno, 1935

Gelatin silver print

Image: 9 1/2 x 7 1/2"; Paper: 10 x 8"



“Alvarez Bravo’s photographs demand attentive engagement, for they always hint at a larger part of reality that extends beyond the frame. His images are never as naïve as they might appear at first glance. On second look, they revolutionize the conventions of photography as a realistic medium.”

David Lyon from “Frames from the State of Grace”- America magazine



La Hija De Los Danzantes, 1933

Gelatin silver print

Image: 9 5/8 x 6 7/8"; Paper: 10 x 8"



Manuel Álvarez Bravo is Mexico’s most accomplished and renowned master photographer. His lyrical black & white images, often grounded in traditional Mexican life are exhibited in galleries and museums around the world.  



El Ensueño, 1931

Gelatin silver print

Image: 9 1/2 x 7 1/2"; Paper: 10 x 8"



“I don’t search for the encounter. In reality, art is like that. We don’t seek but we find.” Álvarez Bravo is a defiant non-intellectual. He proudly casts himself among those who work intensely at their craft without overlaying artistic theories. His youth, spent in an atmosphere of political rhetoric during Mexico’s revolution greatly affected him. His education was cut short, and by the time he was fourteen he was employed by The Treasury Department where he worked for the next 15 years. During that time he studied accounting, painting, music and literature.

In 1924 he bought his first camera and began to emulate Hugo Brehme, Eugene Atget and Jose Guadalupe Posada. Atget’s images taught him to “see and relate to daily life”, Posada to see more deeply into the rituals and fiestas, Brehme was his tutor and himself a follower of Guillermo Kahlo (Frida Kahlo’s father and a German pictorialist). Álvarez Bravo’s friend Tina Modotti asked him to send a portfolio to Edward Weston. It was Weston’s favorable critique that was fundamental in his decision to make photography his life-time career. Modotti left Mexico in l930 and gave her 8 x l0″ camera to Álvarez Bravo when he replaced her at Mexican Folkways Magazine as staff photographer.



El Umbral, 1947

Gelatin silver print

Image: 9 1/2 x 7 5/8"; Paper: 10 x 8"



Among the many threads Álvarez Bravo weaves into his work is one of surrealism. Bravo says, “The invisible is always contained and present in a work of art which recreates it. If the invisible cannot be seen in it, then the work of art does not exist.” This challenge is met in all of Álvarez Bravo’s photographs. Bravo’s photographs have many influences; Western religious/Christian and traditions, European art, and the mythology of ancient Mexico. His photographs are imbued with symbols and hidden meanings.

Along with his own work in photography Álvarez Bravo established a foundation for publishing books on Mexican art, developed a permanent collection for The National Museum of Photography in Mexico, and has been a mentor and friend to scores of younger, contemporary photographers and artists in Mexico.

His numerous one-man exhibits include exhibitions in France, Russia, Brazil, Cuba, Spain, Israel, and the United States. His photographs are housed in museum collections around the world. He is acknowledged as a master in both gelatin silver and platinum prints.



El Trapo Negro, 1986

Gelatin silver print

Image: 9 1/2 x 7 1/4"; Paper: 10 x 8"

Sed Publica, 1932

Gelatin silver print

Image: 7 1/4 x 91/2"; Paper: 8 x 10"



El Sonador, 1931

Gelatin silver print

Image: 7 1/2 x 9 3/8"; Paper: 8 x 10" 



Retrato Desagradable, 1945

Platinum print

Image: 9 7/8 x 7 7/8"; Paper: 10 3/8 x 8 1/4"

Colchon - Positivo & Negativo, 1927

Platinum palladium print (two prints)

Images: 7 1/2 x 9"; Papers: 8 1/2 x 11"

To view more works by Manuel Álvarez Bravo please visit our website.