Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s Followers (9)

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

Born

in Mexico City, Mexico

February 04, 1902

Died

October 19, 2002

Website

http://www.manuelalvarezbravo.org/

Genre

Arts & Photography

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Manuel Álvarez Bravo, the pioneer of artistic photography in Mexico, is considered the main representative of Latin American photography in the 20th century. His work extends from the late 1920s to the 1990s.

Álvarez Bravo was born in downtown Mexico City on February 4, 1902. He left school at the age of twelve in order to begin making a contribution to his family’s finances after his father's death. He worked at a textile factory for a time, and later at the National General Treasury.

Both his grandfather (a painter) and his father were amateur photographers. His early discovery of the camera awakened in him an interest that he would continue to cultivate throughout his life. As a self-taught photographer, he would explore many different tec Manuel Álvarez Bravo, the pioneer of artistic photography in Mexico, is considered the main representative of Latin American photography in the 20th century. His work extends from the late 1920s to the 1990s.

Álvarez Bravo was born in downtown Mexico City on February 4, 1902. He left school at the age of twelve in order to begin making a contribution to his family’s finances after his father's death. He worked at a textile factory for a time, and later at the National General Treasury.

Both his grandfather (a painter) and his father were amateur photographers. His early discovery of the camera awakened in him an interest that he would continue to cultivate throughout his life. As a self-taught photographer, he would explore many different techniques, as well as graphic art.

Influenced by his study of painting at the Academy of San Carlos, he embraced pictorialism at first. Then, with the discovery of cubism and all the possibilities offered by abstraction, he began to explore modern aesthetics. He had his initiation into documentary photography in 1930: when she was deported from Mexico, Tina Modotti left him her job at the magazine Mexican Folkways. He also worked for the muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Álvarez Bravo is an emblematic figure from the period following the Mexican Revolution—often called the Mexican Renaissance. It was a time of a creative fertility, owing to the happy—though not always tranquil—marriage between a desire for modernization and the search for an identity with Mexican roots, in which archaeology, history and ethnology played an important role, parallel to the arts. Álvarez Bravo embodied both tendencies in the field of visual arts.

Between 1943 and 1959, he worked in the film industry doing still shots, which inspired him to realize some of his own experiments with cinema.

While he was alive, he held over 150 individual exhibitions and participated in over 200 collective exhibitions. According to several critics, the work of this "poet of the lens" expresses the essence of Mexico. However, the humanist regard reflected in his work, the aesthetic, literary and musical references it contains, likewise endow with a truly universal dimension.

He died on October 19, 2002, at the age of one hundred. ...more

Combine Editions
Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s books

Average rating: 4.03 · 244 ratings · 16 reviews · 52 distinct works

	Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Masters of Photography by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Photographer), A.D. Coleman, Aperture 3.90 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 1997 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Photopoetry by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Photographs), Colette Álvarez Urbajtel (Contributor), John Banville (Contributor) 4.43 avg rating — 28 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manuel Alvarez Bravo by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Photographer), Glenn D. Lowry, Susan Kismaric 4.47 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1985 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manuel Alvarez Bravo (55) by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Photographer), Amanda Hopkinson 4.19 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Nudes: The Blue House by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Photographer), Ariadne Kimberly Huque, Carlos Fuentes 4.09 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2002 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Canto a la realidad: Fotografía Latinoamericana 1860-1993 by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Photographer), Erika Billeter, Ramón Martínez 3.88 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1998 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In Focus: Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2001	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manuel Álvarez Bravo by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Photographer), Gerardo Mosquera, Catherine David 4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Photographs and Memories: Aperture 147 4.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1997 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manuel Álvarez Bravo: In Color by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Photographer), James Oles (Editor), Ramón Reverté (Editor) 3.50 avg rating — 6 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (?)

“Down here everything is symbol and mystery.”
― Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Alvarez Bravo

5 likes

“A photographer’s main instrument is his eyes. Strange as it may seem, many photographers choose to use the eyes of another photographer, past or present, instead of their own. Those photographers are blind.”
― Manuel Álvarez Bravo

1 likes