Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

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- [...]

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 [...]

In the 1990s, the magazine Memoria reported on a controversy that led to the great 1936 exhibition organized by the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR) [League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists]. The article explains that the [...]

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 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 [...]

In his essay, “El arte negro” [The Black Art], Manuel Álvarez Bravo mentions several factors that substantiate photography’s standing as an art form. In this photographer’s opinion the practice, like other forms of artistic expression, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

What is relevant in this article is that it presents a synopsis of five exhibitions that were held in the Galería de Arte Moderno—which depends on the Dirección de Acción Cívica del Departamento del Distrito Federal [an entity of civic action [...]

The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) published this catalog along with the 1943 exhibition, The Latin American Collection of the Museum of Modern Art. It was the first major exhibition of Latin American art at MoMA, and it included works by [...]

Beatriz González profiles the Colombian photographer Luís Benito Ramos Rodríguez, who produced an important body of work in the years between 1934 and 1950, during the period known as the República Liberal [Liberal Republic]. González, an artist [...]

Xavier Villaurrutia reflects upon the artistic value of photography. He recalls that the poet Charles Baudelaire refused to consider photography among the fine arts or accept photographers as artists. According to Villaurrutia, the problem still [...]

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 [...]