Manuel Alvarez Bravo

Photographs from the Permanent Collection

Aug. 19 – Sept. 25, 2005 

Project Room 

Organized by Samek Art Gallery

Sept. 16
5:00 p.m. in the Gallery Theatre: "Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Private Worlds in Public Space" – Lecture by critic, photography historian, and curator Roberto Tejada, Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Arts, University of California, SanDiego

Manuel Alvarez Bravo (1902 - 2002) is recognized as one of the foremost figures in the history of photography and one of the great Mexican artists of the twentieth century. Born in Mexico City, Bravo began taking photographs while in his teens. However, it was during the post-revolutionary period of the 1920s and 1930s that his photographs developed into the mature work he is now internationally recognized for. Self-taught, Bravo created a substantial body of work during a career that spans eight decades. During the decades following the revolution, Mexico became a destination for artists and intellectuals from around the world. Bravo became close to and exhibited with a number of photographers that traveled or lived in Mexico at this time, including Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, Paul Strand, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. He was close to artists Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, filmmakers Luis Buñel and Jon Ford, and writers including André Breton and Octavio Paz. All of Bravo's photographs are deeply rooted in the culture, people and landscape of Mexico. He captures intimate moments, the everyday, the mysterious, rural and urban life, and life and death during a century that saw tremendous changes. His finely composed photographs poetically frame the complexities of life in Mexico. This portfolio is one of two published by Acorn Editions, Geneva Switzerland. Published in 1979, it consists of fifteen photographs. This is an important portfolio for several reasons: it represents many of Bravo's important themes; it includes extraordinary photographs ranging from seminal to lesser-known images; and it spans more than four decades, 1933 - 1976 (an unusual characteristic it shares with the 1977 Acorn Editions portfolio). The photographs in this portfolio were selected, printed, and signed by Manuel Alvarez Bravo in Mexico City, Mexico. It was selected for exhibition from the collection's holdings of more than 650 photographs. On behalf of the Samek Art Gallery and Bucknell University, I thank Raymond W. Merritt for generously donating this exquisite portfolio. Viewers interested in learning more about Bravo are invited to make use of the Samek library publications while in the Project Room (located on the pedestal). Dan Mills, Director