Mexican Churches

by Eliot Porter, Ellen Auerbach

On an extended trip through Mexico in 1956, famed photographer Eliot Porter and photographer friend Ellen Auerbach visited several hundred churches and rural chapels. Often far off the beaten track and rarely photographed, many of these buildings today no longer exist or have been drastically altered. Mexican Churches is a glowing record of the beauty and splendor of these historic sanctuaries where elements of Spanish and indigenous Mexican culture come together.

The spiritual devotion and artistry of the Mexican people find unique expression in these carved statues of saints, exuberantly decorated altars, and the votives, milagros, and other devotional objects arranged by worshippers in altar niches, With the goal of showing the saints and their surroundings as they are revered by the Mexican people, Porter and Auerbach used only existing
illumination to photograph church interiors — necessitating long exposure times and lending these images a rich sense of atmosphere.

With an essay by folk curator Donna Pierce tracing the architectural history of the churches, Mexican Churches otters an intriguing glimpse of the intimate settings in which the people of Mexico have worshipped for centuries.

Genres: Photography

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Eliot Furness Porter was a photographer best known for his color photographs of nature.