Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

The letter from Ricardo Gómez Robelo to Edward Weston is an emotional letter thanking Weston for the gift of some photographs, but, above all, he is grateful for Weston’s friendship. Robelo acknowledges that they [the group of friends around [...]

In this letter written by Tina Modotti in March 1931 to Manuel Álvarez Bravo, she mentions the recommendation she has made to a photo agency in Berlin. Her purpose is for Álvarez Bravo to provide them with some current images, whether recently [...]

In this issue of the magazine Helios—the official publication of the Asociación de Fotógrafos de México—an editorial expresses disagreement with the results of the photographic competition sponsored by the cement company La Tolteca. This [...]

The writer of this article discusses some of the formal changes that photography must undergo in order to improve the presentation and subjects captured. To that end, he proposes that professional photographers abandon their studio props: “the [...]

This article reports the presence of [Efisio] Caboni at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City. The author provides a biographical sketch of the Italian master born in Rome. He recounts his education in Italy and some of the difficulties that [...]

This article is seminal because it is one of the few to mention photography as part of the fine arts program at the Academia de San Carlos. The writer describes various artistic media, such as sketches, drawings, and paintings, which all clearly [...]

In this article, the American artist, Edward Weston, expresses his avant-garde opinions about photography. He insists that a photograph should neither imitate other forms of artistic expression, nor rely on tricks or attempt to replicate alternative [...]

In this letter from Tina Modotti to Manuel Álvarez Bravo, she expresses some of her opinions about the character of Antonieta Rivas Mercado (A.R.M.), whom Modotti deems bourgeois and decadent—which would explain her suicide in 1931. She then lets [...]

This is a review by Anita Brenner of Edward Weston’s exhibition in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Brenner discusses the differences of photography, stating that Weston is “emphatically a photographer and not a painter with a lens.” However, in her [...]

This article explains the importance of the German photographer Hugo Brehme and his presence in Mexico. It provides a brief biographical note describing the photographer’s work in Mexico and collected in his book México pintoresco [Picturesque [...]

The anonymous author of this article advises photographers on how to photograph nudes and obtain a truly worthy result. The writer emphasizes that this is one of the genres in which it is hardest to achieve perfection; therefore, he suggests that the [...]

This important article contributes to an understanding of the development of photography in Mexico, mainly because José G. Zuno’s goal was to show the difference between contemporary photographs and those taken ten years earlier. He mentions how [...]

This is a marvelously eloquent essay about photography by the learned Guatemalan writer, Luis Cardoza y Aragón, on the occasion of the exhibition organized by Enrique Fernández Ledesma and Manuel Álvarez Bravo at the Sala de Arte in 1933. The [...]

The author reflects on Edward Weston’s œuvre. He very poetically describes the formal and aesthetic nature of the photographer’s images in such a way that, with no description to guide us, we recognize them. This is art criticism refined by [...]

This profound essay by the muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros was prompted by what critics had said about Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s exhibition at the Sociedad de Arte Moderno. Siqueiros describes the critiques as a useless form of photo-literature [...]

To Fernando Gamboa, the contemporary Mexican painters are not imitators of ancient art; rather their intention is to recreate the past in modern terms. In the Mexican past, they found formal inspiration for creating their own language that resulted [...]

In this article, the writer discusses the latest exhibition of works by students of the Catalonian instructor Antonio Fabrés at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes [National School of Fine Arts]. That is why works by even the youngest pupils are of [...]

In this informal interview by Juan Gonzalo Rose, photographer Nacho López reveals a little-known side of himself and his ideas. During the course of the conversation, López discusses the difference between painting and photography, making a [...]

This article explains how photographers work in the streets around the Basilica of the Villa de Guadalupe, in Mexico City. The writer describes cameras that were adapted to function as photographic laboratories. He mentions the pleasure of painting [...]

In this article, Aragón Leyva defends the artistic qualities relevant to photography. In a rapid analysis ranging from scientific to technical discourse about the image, the writer points out the specific characteristics of photographic creation. [...]

The anonymous author refers to the competition established in Mexico under the name Primera Exposición de Arte Fotográfico Nacional [First Exhibition of National Photographic Art]. The text describes the different genres included in the competition [...]

This article tells the story of one of the most important art events that took place during those years: an exhibition of art photography by the photojournalists of Mexico City. It points out the relevance of the exhibition and tells of some of the [...]

Rafael Vera de Córdova, the journalist, writes about artworks brought into the country by Ricardo Gómez Robelo to be exhibited at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. Vera de Córdova mentions various art techniques, such as the “baticks” by [...]

This article attempts to show Tina Modotti’s creative and artistic side during the media coverage that she endured in the difficult time following the assassination of her life partner and comrade in militancy, Julio Antonio Mella, who founded the [...]

This essay is the final installment of a trilogy that was published in Mañana magazine by the Portuguese art critic Antonio Rodríguez, who was researching the history in the illustrated press by means of which words and images go in tandem. In this [...]

These are Edward Weston’s notes on daguerreotypes. He remarks that those original images had no artistic pretensions at all. The complicated process made it hard for photographers to play the “arrogant artist.” Weston also suggests that the [...]

This short article tells how photographers launched the Asociación de Fotógrafos de Prensa [Press Photographers Association] in Mexico. Its historical importance lies in its being the first association of this kind. The article also describes the [...]

This is an announcement for the exhibition of Rafael García’s work, sponsored by the SEP (Ministry of Public Education). A small photo section at the bottom of the page shows images of the temple of Regina in the heart of Mexico City [...]

This article by Raúl Flores Guerrero provides a thumbnail sketch of Nacho López’s training as a photographer. It mentions that he was born in Tampico (in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas). Flores Guerrero explains that, while still an amateur, Ló [...]

This newspaper article reports the fire that occurred at the studio of the German photographer Hugo Brehme on February 6, 1930. The text refers to the background information about the studio of Emilio Lange who (on that same location) was the victim [...]

In this article, Guillermo Luzuriaga acknowledges the importance of photography in the field of advertising. He is convinced of the need to radically change the way commercial products are advertised through intelligently presented photographs. He [...]

Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s essay provides an introduction to the general history of photography. He traces its development from the original camera obscura that has been with us since time immemorial, and recognizes the contributions of those who [...]

This article introduces one of the oldest studio photographers in Mexico City: José P. Arriaga, who was fifty years old at the time the article was published. He began as an amateur photographer and in less than six years became so proficient with [...]

In this article, Luis Cardoza y Aragón identifies the cinematographer Agustín Jiménez as one of the best photographers in Mexico, placing him in the company of Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Emilio Amero. The critic explains the differences between the [...]

In this article, David Alfaro Siqueiros makes very clear comments on avant-garde photography in the 1920s. In easily understood terms, he describes the specifics of the photographic image and its technical and formal resources in order to distinguish [...]