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Villanova University Art Collection

Villanova University Art Collection

Villanova, PA

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  • Artist: Manuel Alvarez-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." - MoMA
Barda de Pantéon (Cemetery Wall) by Manuel Alvarez-Bravo, Image 2.
  • Manuel Alvarez-Bravo
  • Barda de Pantéon (Cemetery Wall)
    • Gelatin silver print
    9.5 x 7.25 in
Un Poco Alegre Y Graciosa by Manuel Alvarez-Bravo, Image 2.
  • Manuel Alvarez-Bravo
  • Un Poco Alegre Y Graciosa
    • B&W photograph
    7.25 x 9.5 in
Sed Pública (Public Thirst) by Manuel Alvarez-Bravo, Image 2.
  • Manuel Alvarez-Bravo
  • Sed Pública (Public Thirst)
    • Gelatin silver print
    7.5 x 9.25 in
Parabola Optica, Historic Center, Mexico City, 1930s. by Manuel Alvarez-Bravo, Image 3.
  • Manuel Alvarez-Bravo
  • Parabola Optica, Historic Center, Mexico City, ..., c. 1930
    • Gelatin silver print
    9.25 x 7 in
Los Agachados by Manuel Alvarez-Bravo, Image 2.
  • Manuel Alvarez-Bravo
  • Los Agachados
    • Gelatin silver print
    7.25 x 9.5 in
El Ensueno by Manuel Alvarez-Bravo, Image 2.
  • Manuel Alvarez-Bravo
  • El Ensueno
    • Gelatin silver print
    7 x 9.25 in
 

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