"This book will become the most complete and useful English-language text on its subject, and will be the essential starting point for anyone wishing to incorporate Mexican material into a photographic survey course, to add photography to a course on Mexican culture, or to do more research in the field." -Martha A. Sandweiss, Associate Professor of American Studies and History, Amherst College The history of photography in Mexico was a largely untold story until the 1994 publication of Olivier Debroise's Fuga Mexicana, un recorrido por la fotografía en México. Based on ten years' research in public and private photographic archives in Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, and Europe, Fuga Mexicana provided the first comprehensive survey of Mexican photography from the advent of the daguerreotype in 1839 to the present. Now this benchmark publication is available in English as Mexican Suite. Olivier Debroise and Stella de Sá Rego have revised this edition to include more current material and explanatory notes for an audience less familiar with Mexican history. They have also eliminated some of the general history of photography and added more of the early history of photography in Mexico, as well as many new, previously unpublished images. The book is organized both chronologically and thematically, which allows viewer/readers to follow the evolution of major photographic genres and styles. Debroise also examines the role of photography in the development of modern Mexico and the influence of prominent foreign photographers such as Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. In its totality, Mexican Suite constitutes an extended essay on Mexican culture as a whole and on how this culture has been read, interpreted, and imagined.
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From Publishers Weekly
While this book is certainly a thorough and much-needed history of photography in Mexico, its passion, technique and breadth of insight make it much more. The book's musical structure more explicitly stated in its Spanish title, Fuga Mexicana, and its section headings, which move from "overture" through "canon" and "pastorale" to "fantasia" is also its narrative method, developing a series of discrete but interrelated sections instead of a lockstep sequential narration of events. With a talent for biting wit (the early 20th century Mexican press possessed "a perversity that was then uncommon") and bold recontextualizations, Mexico City independent curator and scholar Debroise takes figures like Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Tina Modotti and moves them from the "exotic" margins of the modernist canon to rightful and powerfully stated positions of central importance within a national tradition. A host of other figures, from anonymous daguerreotype artists to such American visitors as Edward Weston and Paul Strand, are incorporated into Debroise's overlapping panoramas. Since publishing the book in Spanish in 1994, Debroise and translator Sa Rego (archivist of pictorial collections at the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico) have collaborated in revising and updating its content for readers less familiar with the details of Mexican history. That care, along with the sensitive layout and incisive selection of 143 b&w images, allow the authors to make an extremely compelling case for some terrific art. (Apr.)Forecast: For any photographic or university library this pioneering volume is an essential purchase. It also should appeal to a wide range of other readers, from those with an interest in Mexican history and Latino/Latina studies, to those with an interest in modernist and postmodernist photography and art.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In 1994, after ten years of research in public and private collections in Mexico, Guatemala, Europe, and the United States, art and cultural historian Debroise published his study, which began with the daguerreotype and continued through the 1990s. His chronological compilation has now been translated and revised for a non-Mexican audience; more depth on Mexican history and early Mexican photography has been added, while some general history of early photography has been eliminated. The 143 images show 150 years of cultural and historical change in Mexico, from portraits of tradesmen and soldiers, wedding photos, and early cityscapes, to records of the revolution and graphic images of firing squads, to stunning landscapes and pictures of ancient ruins. The book includes not only Mexican photographers of note but others who worked in Mexico, e.g., Tina Modotti, Edward Weston, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
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Award Winner for Book Design,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mexican Suite : A History of Photography in Mexico (Hardcover)
This book has received an Honorable Mention from the 2001 Southern Books Competition. "One of the challenges of book design is to thoughtfully create a readable and engaging package for outstanding intellectual content. Jose Orozco Farias has done an exemplary job here and deserves warm praise. Color continuity from jacket through title page to chapter openings is exceptional. The table of contents is clear, simple and easy to use. Chapter openings are beautiful. Images are thoughtfully and effectively arranged. The text is extremely readable with thoughtful use of white space." Congratulations to the authors, designer Jose Clemente Orozco Farias, and the University of Texas Press.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
just order it!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mexican Suite : A History of Photography in Mexico (Hardcover)
If you got this far, you are probably going to buy this book, since it is the only survey in English of the rich history of photography in Mexico. But in case you have any doubts about spending the 40 odd dollars, put them out of your mind, since it is really a great art book, even if you aren't interested in Mexico or photography! Reads like a series of fascinating "tales"....I'm a very biased reviewer but thought someone had to be the first to review this excellent book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Striking photos,
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This review is from: Mexican Suite : A History of Photography in Mexico (Hardcover)
I learned about this book from a Mexican art class I took at UT (their press published it.) It's a wonderful book to own.
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