Manuel Alvarez Bravo Orden de los libros (cronológico)

Manuel Alvarez Bravo has said of himself, "I was born in the city of Mexico, behind the Cathedral, in the place where the temples of the ancient Mexican gods must have been built." And as this selection of photographs shows, the too are deeply rooted in the culture of the Mexican people. Alvarez Bravo's unique eye for the monumental, the mundane, the mysterious reveals a vision of universal interest, rooted in the everyday yet always looking beyond. He focuses on the subtleties of human interaction to make eloquent images of dreams, death, and the transient life. Since early in his photographic career, the photographs of Alvarez Bravo have been respected by artists from around the world. It is only recently, however, that Alvarez Bravo's importance as a master of photography has been confirmed in a series of major retrospective exhibitions at the International Center of Photography, New York; the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Israel Museum. Jerusalem; the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid; the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Aperture is proud to acknowledge the contributions Manuel Alvarez Bravo has made to photography and to make available this selection of his wide-ranging work in this volume of its Masters of Photography series.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo has been a pivotal figure in Mexican photography and a major artist of the twentieth century, yet his extensive artistic journey has not been fully explored. Throughout his long career, he created a remarkable body of work, including early pictorialist pieces, formal abstractions, and images connected to surrealism. His mature photography encompasses portraits, urban and rural scenes, religious and vernacular subjects, landscapes, and nudes, all characterized by originality, poetry, and a commitment to human dignity. His deep affection for Mexico and its people has significantly shaped the global perception of the country. This book presents the most comprehensive and faithfully reproduced overview of Alvarez Bravo's achievements, featuring 175 tritone plates made from rare vintage prints, many of which are iconic in modern photography, while nearly half have never been published or exhibited since the 1930s. Susan Kismaric's extensive interviews with Alvarez Bravo enrich the narrative, tracing his extraordinary career and discussing his unique body of work. The essay highlights his international recognition and the universal themes in his intimate poetic imagery, providing a thorough examination of his oeuvre in relation to his life, pride in his heritage, and the avant-garde movements of his time.