Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

This is an informative short article about an exhibition held by Tina Modotti and Edward Weston in Guadalajara, Jalisco, from August 31 to September 6, 1925, in the Exhibition Hall of the Museo del Estado. José María Peña gives us a detailed [...]

The writer of this short article tells us that there will be an exhibition of about 100 photographs of the “very delicate” work of Edward Weston. He tells us that these works will be related to the concept of daily life in Mexico, and that the [...]

In this article, Rafael Heliodoro Valle informs us about some of the photographers working from the nineteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century. The article refers to descriptions of photographs taken by Madame Calderón de la [...]

This document is the invitation to an exhibition of palladiotypes by Edward Weston, which will take place in the galería Aztec Land, at 24 calle de Francisco I. Madero, in the historic center of Mexico City. It includes a phrase from the illustrator [...]

In this letter, the painter [and writer] Roubaix de l’Abrie Richey, known by the pseudonym, “Robo,” the husband of the Italian artist and photographer, Tina Modotti, writes to Edward Weston from Mexico City. The writer is visiting Mexico in [...]

In his essay on Cartier-Bresson’s exhibition, Julio Torri attempts to define the outstanding features of the French photographer’s work. He finds that, far from cluttering his views with smokestacks or skyscrapers, Cartier-Bresson focuses on [...]

In this letter, the interim director of the Escuela Central de Artes Plásticas [Central School of the Visual Arts] informs the rector of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [UNAM National Autonomous University of Mexico], and attorney-at- [...]

Eugene Witmore turns the adventures a foreign photographer could experience in Mexico into a good tale. The eloquent text sets forth both the myths and realities related to photographers entering Mexico. Myth: You cannot bring in a camera. Reality: [...]

In this essay, the historian Justino Fernández sets forth the two common opinions about photography: on the one hand, understanding photography as a form of expression apart from art and, on the other, considering it to be a unique form of art. [...]

In the introduction to volume three (issue number one) of El Fotografo Mexicano [The Mexican Photographer], the editors and editorial staff assert their wish to perform the noble task of disseminating photography, as well as thanking the readers for [...]

La gracia de los retratos antiguos [The Charm of Old Portraits] by Enrique Fernández Ledesma (1950) is required reading to learn about the history of photography in Mexico. It includes a prologue written by the diplomat Marte R. Gómez, as well as a [...]

This is the third and last article in the series by Antonio Rodríguez. In a quick history of illustrated news, he shows us how it developed from the pre-Hispanic period through the modern world of the twentieth century. In this article, Rodríguez [...]

This is the second of three articles written by the art critic, Antonio Rodríguez. To provide continuity with the first essay, Rodríguez reviews the progress of illustrated journalism in Mexico from the woodcut print to copper plate print. From [...]

This article is the first of a series of three written by the critic and historian Antonio Rodríguez on the development and dissemination of the news over several centuries and historical periods in Mexico. He organized the graphic and textual [...]

Ignacio Mendoza Rivera describes a conversation with José Vasconcelos, the former Minister of Public Education. In this interview, the religious convictions of Vasconcelos emerge through his belief that historically, there had always been a [...]

Juan B. Climent interviews Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, who leaves no doubt about his position regarding the figures of Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros in Mexican art. Lozano talks about the need to vindicate the native figure stemming from [...]

This article is dedicated to the memory of muralist José Clemente Orozco. The author, Antonio Rodríguez, describes one of the painter’s most grounded obsessions with regard to his artistic practice: the search for light, and the possibility of [...]

The text by Carlos Argüelles that precedes the photographs taken by the photojournalists Faustino Mayo and Nacho López shows the transformation of Mexican photography in the mid-twentieth century. This photo-essay presents photographs of great [...]

In this essay, writer Antonio Rodríguez comes to the defense of a photography that goes beyond the mere technical record. He emphasizes that from Charles Baudelaire to Xavier Villaurrutia, aesthetes have affirmed that photography is a mere “ [...]

This article about the work of painter José Clemente Orozco was written by the then-young writer Carlos Heredia Jasso, who enjoyed working in the biographical genre. He starts the piece with a portrait of the artist at work, seeking to decipher his [...]

This is a review written in the journal Helios about an exhibition mounted by Agustín Jiménez, a photography professor at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (Mexico City) with his disciple Aurora Eugenia Latapi (no accent). In this show, they [...]

This is an article on an exhibition of works by Edward Weston that would be mounted in Aztec Hall in Mexico City. The anonymous writer of the news story considers the exhibition important because of Weston’s treatment of a new genre within [...]

In this issue, Revista de Revistas presents photographic studies by Soledad Espinosa de los Monteros, a student of the teacher Agustín Jiménez at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas. The images that accompany the text have an aesthetic sense in keeping [...]

In this newspaper article, Federico Lan discusses some of the signature features of Mariana Yampolsky’s early work. He refers to her printmaking and her photography, acknowledging her passionate commitment to both forms of visual expression. Lan [...]

In this article, the visual artist Carlos Mérida discusses the work of the photographer María Santibáñez, describing her approach to the studio portrait and explaining why her photographs were so admirable. Referring to their formal [...]

In this article, Frances Toor develops her analysis of the exhibition of works of Tina Modotti that opened at the Biblioteca Nacional on December 3, 1929. Toor states that this is the first exhibition sponsored by the Universidad Nacional [UNAM] [...]

In this text, Tina Modotti shows her way of understanding and evaluating photography based on an aesthetic and expressive search that went beyond merely pictorial canons. She clearly explains that it is important that images have clarity, [...]

This article analyzes the photographs exhibited by Emilio Amero at the Galería de Arte Moderno (GAM) under the Dirección de Acción Educativa [Educational Activities Office] of the Departamento del Distrito Federal [DDF, Mexico City-City Hall]. [...]