Manuel Alvarez Bravo [Paperback]

Susan Kismaric (Author), Manuel Alvarez Bravo (Author), N. Y.) Museum of Modern Art (New York (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1997

Manuel Alvarez Bravo is one of the foremost figures of modern photography and the only photographer among the great Mexican artists of the 20th century. Bravo has produced work of exceptional quality throughout his long career: formal experiments of the 1920s were followed by modernists works inspired by such international trends as Surrealism, and the early 30s saw him develop a gifted personal style that suggested specific Mexican customs and rituals. The majority of this volume's 175 tritone plates were made from rare vintage prints assembled from private collections or furnished by the artist; many have never before been published and some have not been seen or exhibited since the 1930s. This volume was published in conjunction with a 1997 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The photography of Manuel Alvarez Bravo is Mexican by cause, form, and content, anguish is omnipresent and the atmosphere is supersaturated with irony."--Diego Rivera

"Alvarez Bravo's photographs are enigmas in black-and-white, silent yet eloquent: without saying it, they allude to other realities, and without showing them, they evoke other images."--Octavio Paz

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Manuel Alvarez Bravo was born in 1902, in Mexico City. He received a daguerreotype camera in 1915 as a gift, and began experimenting with the basics of photography at home using his mother's kitchen pots and pans. Within a decade of buying his first modern camera in 1924, he had won regional photo competitions, begun to teach photography, exhibited in group shows with Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, and Dorothea Lange, had his first solo exhibition, and met Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. His pace has never abated and, since then, his work has been exhibited around the world and is in the collection of nearly every major museum. Recently turned 100 years old, Bravo lives and works in Mexico City, as he always has. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Museum of Modern Art (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870701142
• ISBN-13: 978-0870701146
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,590,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very complete but poorly printed Bravo collection., June 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Manuel Alvarez Bravo (Hardcover)

The most complete collection of this wonderful photographer's work available, this book has unfortunately been printed so poorly that the qualities of most of the photographs is lost. The photos look muddy and suffer from low contrast. The essay, however, is excellent, and worth reading for an introduction to Bravo's life and work. The Aperture books of Bravo's work, while offering far fewer photographs, have much better reproduction.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully printed small selection of Bravo's work., June 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Manuel Alvarez Bravo (Aperture Masters of Photography) (Hardcover)

This small book contains wonderfully printed samples of a great photographer's work. Any selection not done by the artist reflects a certain bias, but this collection has a very neutral one, and the book flows quite nicely. Coleman's essay at the beginning has been printed numerous times and reflects a cultural bias that glorifies Bravo as a "Mexican" photographer rather than as one without the qualifier.

0 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Haven't received the book yet, February 6, 2007

By 

Heewon Seo "daemon" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Manuel Alvarez Bravo (Aperture Masters of Photography) (Hardcover)

This order was placed on the 6th of January; As of 6th Feb the book hasn't reached me yet. Could be the international shipping. I will post my review once I get it.