Lola Alvarez Bravo

Lola Álvarez Bravo, born Dolores Martínez Martínez de Anda also Vianda ( born April 3, 1907 in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, † July 31, 1993 in Mexico City) was one of the first women photographers of Mexico and next to Tina Modotti, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and her husband Manuel Álvarez Bravo one of the key figures of the post-revolutionary cultural flowering of Mexico.

Life and work

Her childhood and adolescence were spent Lola Álvarez Bravo in Mexico City. In 1925, she married Manuel Álvarez Bravo, from which they learned the photography. During this time she made the acquaintance of many important Mexican artists, including the painters Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo, as well as with the poet circle, which became known as Los Contemporáneos. Inspired by photographers such as Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, who worked for a longer time in Mexico itself, Lola Álvarez Bravo developed his own style and is independent of her husband career.

After her separation from Manuel Álvarez Bravo 1934 she lived for some time with the painter María Izquierdo together. Lola Álvarez Bravo in 1944 had her first solo exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

In 1951, she opened the Galerie de Arte Contemporáneo Galleria, in the 1953 Frida Kahlo had her first and only solo exhibition in Mexico during his lifetime. Álvarez Bravo also taught at the prestigious Academia de San Carlos.

Lola Álvarez Bravo in 1955 took on the pioneering and world shown over many years photography exhibition The Family of Man part, which had been organized by Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Her estate is located in the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona in Tucson, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC and the Portland Museum of Art

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 2005 Frida Kahlo: Portrait of an Icon, National Portrait Gallery, London
  • 2006 Frida Kahlo y Diego Rivera, Centro Cultural Borges, Buenos Aires
  • 2006 Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia di Brescia 2006. Appunti per una storia della fotografia al femminile, Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia, Brescia
  • 2008 Lola Alvarez Bravo ( 1903-1993 ), Portland Museum of Art; Smithsonian International Gallery ( Smithsonian Institution )
  • 2010 The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today, Museum of Modern Art
  • 2010 Angels of Anarchy. Woman Artists and Surrealism, Manchester Art Gallery

Publications

  • Escritores y Artistas: Lola Alvarez Bravo de Fotografias, Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1982
  • Recuento fotografico, Editorial Penelope, 1982
  • Lonely encounters. Lola Alvarez Bravo photographed Frida Kahlo. edited by Erika Billeter, Benteli Publishing Agency, 1997
  • Lola Alvarez Bravo. edited by Elizabeth Ferrer, Aperture, 2006
  • Lola Alvarez Bravo: In Her Own Light. Olivier Debroise, University of Arizona, Center for Creative Photography, 1994
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