In the 1920s and 1930s, photographers from the Americas and Europe exchanged ideas and methods with artists in Mexico. Notably, the American photographer Edward Weston followed his romantic partner, the Italian photographer Tina Modotti, to Mexico City, where they established a studio and became a part of an extended artistic circle. Photography of the late nineteenth century mostly served commercial or documentary functions. Instead, modernist images focused on the artist’s vision and capturing form. The hallmarks of this style of photography are abstraction, geometry, asymmetry, strong contrasts, and sharp focus. Everyday scenes were common choices for subject matter and captured unique aspects of life in urban and rural Mexico.
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1902–2002
Large Ladder, 1932
Platinum print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: This is a sunlit outdoor scene. On the left side of the picture, a tall ladder leans against a cement wall. To its right, a woman in a long dress carrying a large jug on her shoulder walks on a sidewalk toward the ladder. The ladder, which is set very close to the left side of the picture, leans against a white or light gray wall painted a darker color on its bottom few feet. The top of the wall is cut off by the top of the picture. The ladder is at least ten feet tall. Its ten visible rungs are spaced at least a foot apart, and it extends beyond the top of the picture. Its feet are set on the edge of a street paved with irregularly shaped stones divided by lines of flat bricks into 2-3’ squares. A smoothly paved cement sidewalk runs between the rough brick and stone street and the cement wall. If the woman walking on the sidewalk continues on her way she will pass under the ladder. She wears a long-sleeved, dark-colored ankle-length dress with several decorative bands across the bottom of the skirt. Her head is covered by a scarf. The jug she is carrying has a wide curved bottom that narrows at the neck and flares out slightly at the lip. It looks big enough to carry several gallons of water. She has it balanced on the back of her neck and her left shoulder, with her right hand raised above her head to hold the lip of the jug. Her left arm is held at her side and bent at the elbow, with her left hand, up near her chin, holding something we can’t see, perhaps a strap tied around the neck of the jug. The strong sunlight bounces off the shoulder of the jug and the woman’s right hand, left forearm and head scarf. It casts a dark shadow of the ladder across the sidewalk to the woman’s feet.]
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1902–2002
A Giving Hand, 1940
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
Here, Álvarez Bravo, who experimented with new photographic techniques and technology, used an X-ray machine to capture the skeletal structure of a hand offering a small flower. Álvarez Bravo explored the theme of human vision and how X-rays make what’s inside the body visible to the naked eye.
[Artwork Description: This is an x-ray image of a hand holding a flower; there’s a strange-looking ring on the hand’s ring finger. Looking at the picture in landscape mode (with the picture wider than it is tall), the last few inches of the forearm bones enter the picture from the left, an inch below the top of the photograph. A couple of inches further into the picture are the wrist bones, followed by the skeletal hand. The hand fills the center of the picture, with the middle finger extending to about three inches from the right edge of the picture. The hand is presented with the little finger closest and the thumb furthest from us. The bones get darker as they recede from our view; the little finger is very light gray, the middle finger is medium dark gray, and the index finger and thumb are very dark gray. All the fingers stick straight out, the 3rd, 4th and 5th finger tilted slightly downward from the wrist, the thumb and 2nd finger remaining level with the wrist. The 3rd, fourth and fifth fingers are spread out about an inch from each other, while the thumb and forefinger are very close together. There’s a black ring on the fourth finger, set toward the end of the second bone, just before the last joint. It’s round with short spiky extensions around almost the entire circumference, like a thistle. Extending from the last joint of the index finger, a thin, pale gray line extends several inches into space to the right, ending at a small, butterfly-shaped white flower, its petals outlined in pale gray. The thread and flower are barely visible. The position of the hand suggests that its owner is giving the flower to someone.]
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1902–2002
Instrumental, 1931
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: This is a close-up black and white photograph of three curved objects on a shelf set against what appears to be a roughly textured wall. The wall is light gray to the left and toward the top of the picture, and much darker, almost black in the lower right area. The largest object, set in the center of the shelf, is shaped like a backward-facing C. It’s about 6” long, 2” wide. While its outer edge is C-shaped, its inner edge has straight sides and a curved bottom, more like a U than a C. It suggests the head of a wrench, with a dark gray 3-4” wide handle attached to its outer rim. The handle extends upward at an angle toward the upper right corner of the picture The bottom end of the wrench’s head is balanced on the shelf; the top end of the head is in the air tilted toward the left, where its tip touches the tip of a second, smaller wrench head set at the left end of the shelf. This wrench head is about 4” long and an inch wide. Its left end almost touches the left edge of the photo, while its right end reaches up to the tip of the large wrench head. Both wrench heads have smooth, metallic-looking silvery gray surfaces; the smaller wrench head has the number 1 1/8 stamped in light gray on its side. The third object is a ring standing on its side, in front of the large wrench head and is positioned at the right end of the shelf. It’s half the height of the of the large wrench head. A hexangular shape cut out of its center, leaving most of its interior space empty, suggesting a socket wrench, It’s dark gray in color and looks battered.]
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1902–2002
Organ Pipe Cacti, 1929–30
Platinum print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s photographs emphasize the visual sensuality and purity of form present in everyday objects and in Mexico City’s monumental architecture. Influenced by photographers Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, who went to Mexico in 1923, Bravo sought out mundane objects such as a rolled-up mattress, a ladder, or a cactus and focused on their formal qualities instead of their function.
[Artwork Description: This is a black and white photograph of an organ pipe cactus. It’s a close-up that focuses on seven thick, prickly, vertical cactus segments. The photograph was taken in bright sun, so the picture consists of alternating brightly lit and darkly shadowed forms flattened by the intensity of the light. The cactus segments are organized into three horizontal sections of the photograph. The lower third of the picture include the top sections of two stems and the right edge of a third, with the lower parts of the segments cut off by the bottom of the photograph. The middle section of the photograph contains three more segments, two clearly visible, and a third, tucked between them, deeply shadowed and less visible. The top third of the photograph contains one segment with its top cut off by the top of the photograph, and the top of a second stem (most of it hidden by the segment below it). Shadowy sections of other segments can be seen in the background. The segments are thick, “torpedo”-shaped growths, 3 to 5” long and 2-3” in diameter, with smooth, leathery-looking surfaces. They grow straight up from the top of the segment below them, sometimes very slightly tilting or twisting to the left or right. Each segment has ridges alternating with deep indentations running vertically from the top of each segment to the bottom. The outer edge of each ridge is lined by needles or prickles about an eighth of an inch long (they look like tiny hairs with pointy ends) running up and down the ridges. The needles reflect more light than the body of the segment, giving the needles a twinkly effect. The light hits the cactus at an angle, so each raised ridge casts a dark, prickly-edged shadow on the flat surface of the indented area next to it.]
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1902–2002
Mattress (negative), 1927
Platinum print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: This black and white photograph shows a close-up of a section of a striped, cloth mattress photographed from above. At top center of the picture, one end of the mattress is rolled up tightly into a circle with a slightly looser circle, the top of which is cut off by the top of the photograph wrapped around the first circle and filling much of the center of the picture. The edges of the fabric are crinkled on it and the innermost circle. At the lower center portion of the photograph, the mattress turns sharply downward and is cropped by the bottom of the photograph. The stripes run along the long edges of the mattress and follow the coiled shape. The outermost edge of the mattress is printed with a very narrow, light gray stripe outlined in black, followed by a very thin white stripe; the three stripes together are less than half an inch wide. They are followed in succession by an approximately 3/4” wide black stripe, a 1 ½” wide light gray stripe with three thin dark gray lines running close together through its center, another ¾” wide black stripe, another very thin white stripe, a thin black stripe and so on.]
Guillermo Kahlo
Frida Kahlo’s father, Guillermo Kahlo, was an accomplished photographer who worked for the Mexican government documenting major architectural landmarks. In these photographs, he adopted the modernist aesthetics of clean lines and repetition of forms in images that emphasize the layers of history in Mexico. Colonial and modern buildings were constructed on Indigenous sacred spaces. The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was built on the site—and out of the ruins of—the Aztec Templo Mayor.
Guillermo Kahlo
German, 1871–1941
Bell Tower, about 1920s
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: Silver gelatin print with a slight sepia tint. Tightly cropped photo of an ornate, but weathered bell tower. The base is made up of four levels, each one slightly smaller than the one below. Vertical bricks make up the bottom two layers with difficult to distinguish small round embellishments. The third is tiled with black diamond shapes with white triangles running along the top and bottom and small white diamonds with black circles in the middle in the center of each large black diamond. A ledge hangs over the top of this layer. The top layer is thinner and has different patterns on each side. The left side has white triangles that alternate right side up and upside down with smaller gray triangles inside them. Plain dark horizontal bricks line the edge and dark rectangles that are positioned upright but leaning towards each other to form a point line the front. The right side and back are not visible. Each visible corner has a rounded column of square bricks on it. The base of each column has multiple lips and a dark portion with dark decorative bricks forming horizontal zigzag lines. This stops even with the base of the window which is flat on the bottom with an arch shape on top. The window on the left is light colored, has some broken light-colored bricks protruding near the bottom, and has a dark stone ledge that extends outward at the base of the window. The window on the front is missing the stone ledge and has a series of rows of exposed and broken brick stones. Inside the dark tower a wooden pole with a small bell is barely visible. Light and darker checkered squares surround the window. Above the windows is a thin layer of single square stones that alternate between light and dark. Above is a thick row of darker colored square stones. Above a round medallion made of light stone sits in front of a row of dark diamond shaped stones. The roof ledge forms a gentle arch over the medallion consisting of light-colored circles with dark centers. On top of the roofline there is a spire on each corner. The base is made of light-colored stone with dark diamonds on top of it. The spire pedestal is made of light and dark stones that come to a square on top. The spires consist of alternating zigzag lines of dark and light stone. Behind the spires is the base for the dome. It has the same light background with black diamonds in a row. The dome is rounded with multiple sections divided by raised dark stone. Between the stones are sections of five light colored small stone squares. The top of the dome extends into a spire with four horizontal rings and a rounded smooth stone top. A layer of clouds surrounds the tower, and the tops of nearby buildings can be seen to the sides of the base.]
Guillermo Kahlo
German, 1871–1941
Untitled, about 1920s
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: A black and white photograph of several large religious articles. At left stands a large, barrel shaped, metal receptacle with a coved top that ends in a point. There appear to be doors that open on the front. The surface of the receptacle is highly intricate and patterned with decorative trim along the sides and top. At right, a Christ statue in a kneeling position sits on top of a dark wooden chest. Another carved object is just visible at far right. These objects are positioned against a blank, light colored wall.]
Guillermo Kahlo
German, 1871–1941
Puebla, about 1920s
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: A black and white photograph of a portion of stalls or seats in a cathedral. The photo shows two long, angled rows of stalls stretching from far left to far right. The seats are made of ornately carved wood with shared armrests and decorative seat backs. A series of arches tops the upper row. Part of an upper balustrade is seen at the top of the photo. It appears that every surface of the stalls has been carved and decorated.]
Guillermo Kahlo
German, 1871–1941
Antique Organ of Mexico’s Cathedral, about 1920s
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: A black and white photo of an enormous pipe organ inside a cathedral. This photo shows the huge organ with its pipes soaring upward into the domed space above. It is viewed from beneath a stone archway. The pipes are encased in decorative carvings and stretch up several stories high. They are topped with more carvings of cherubim in a formation that peaks at its center. A circular pulpit is built into the lower portion at left with its railing edging a walkway across its front. Below the railing at center, a small doorway hints at the large size of this pipe organ; the organ height is about ten times the height of the people size door.]
Guillermo Kahlo
German, 1871–1941
Tepotzotlán (Interior of the Convent), about 1920s
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: A black and white photograph featuring a grand but austere hallway with a series of arches. The viewer is looking down an arched hallway that runs to the right. Two ornate arches lead to a room that features a set of dark doors with a wide decorative surround. Off this hall at left, two more arches are visible, each with decorative molding. Shadows fall horizontally across the hall floor and contrast to the lighter, brighter walls of the room at the end of the hall.]
Guillermo Kahlo
German, 1871–1941
Tepotzotlán (Hall of the Convent), about 1920s
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: This black and white photo shows two wide, arched halls that diverge off in two directions. The center shows the apex of the corner of the hall. Each hallway has a series of large windows with heavy shutters that have been opened. Bright sunlight streams in making rounded bright spots on a darkened, brick floor.]
Guillermo Kahlo
German, 1871–1941
Mexico’s Cathedral (Detail of the Choir Stalls), about 1920s
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: A black and white photograph of a section of ornately carved choir stalls. The stalls or seats occupy the middle section of the photo. They appear to be carved seats that share arm rests between seats, have arched carved panels as backs that depict different holy figures. Above the seats at center is a small cross in a shrine case, again ornately carved. A decorative balustrade tops the choir stalls. Below the stalls, two short staircases are set at right and left. Arched handrails flank each set. Boldly patterned carpet covers the stairs and floor. Between the staircases is the intricately carved side of the platform the stalls are set upon. There seems to be carved detail on every surface, lending the scene a busy sense.]
Guillermo Kahlo
German, 1871–1941
Mexico’s Cathedral, Choir Stalls, about 1920s
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: A black and white photograph of ornately carved choir stalls or seats. This photo shows a corner into which multiple choir stalls are fitted, one row on top of the other. The lower set of stalls runs from the left center of the photo to the right side where it turns a rounded corner and continues off to the right. The stalls are attached, each sharing an armrest with intricate carved surfaces. A short staircase with an arched handrail is seen at right. It leads to the second row of stalls that have high arched backs with carvings of holy figures on each. Above this row is seen a balustrade of an upper floor. Every surface of the choir stalls is carved or decorated lending the photo a busy quality.]
Lola Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1903–1993
Nude (Juan Soriano), 1945
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: A dramatically lit torso of a nude male, seen from the back, fills the entire frame. His head with short dark hair is cut off at the top of the photograph. His muscled back is deeply shadowed and his arms hang at his sides with his hands clasped below the buttocks. Only the top of his thighs is visible. He is set against a plain background with various shades of grey.]
Lola Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1903–1993
Ruth Rivera Marín (Chachalacas, Ver.), about 1950
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
Álvarez Bravo’s portraits often explore the boundaries between revealing and concealing her subjects, utilizing reflections or views seen through foliage to demonstrate how our physical likeness both shows and hides our inner self. In this portrait, Ruth Rivera Marín lies stretched on a piece of driftwood, her body shaped to its contours and her hair spread, causing her to become part of the natural setting. Rivera Marín was an architect and the daughter of Diego Rivera and Guadalupe Marín.
[Artwork Description: A female figure (Ruth Rivera Marin, an architect and daughter of Diego Rivera) lies head forward across a massive piece of driftwood on a sandy beach. She is centered in a bend in the wood, shaped to its contours. Her head is thrown back with eyes and mouth wide open and her long dark hair splays out in front of her like the tentacles of a sea creature or a mass of seaweed. The top of her dark swimsuit and her shoulders are visible but not the rest of her body. The heavy piece of wood is mottled and has three prominent branches jutting on either side of the figure. Smaller limbs protrude from the main piece of wood and trail off the edge of the frame. The figure and the wood seem like a single piece of the natural setting.]
Nickolas Muray
American, born Hungary, 1892–1965
Frida with Olmec Figurine, 1938
Carbon Print
Throckmorton Fine Art, New York
In this intimate portrait made by her friend and lover Nickolas Muray, Kahlo gazes upon an ancient Olmec jade figurine. The Olmec culture was among the earliest known civilizations in Mexico. Kahlo and Rivera avidly collected ancient artifacts as part of their political and artistic identity, promoting mexicanidad.
[Artwork Description: A horizontal color photograph of Frida Kahlo holding up an ancient Mexican Figurine. The photo includes her head and shoulder area. A light red paper streamer intertwines her braided hair which is pulled back and wrapped on top of her head with the red streamer ends forming what looks like a group of floral blossoms. Her face is turned toward the figurine which is held in her upraised left hand and facing the viewer. Her pierced right ear is adorned with a hanging silver earring comprised of two small silver spheres, one hanging from the other with a slightly larger silver sphere encased below in an ornate setting. A black watch band is on her left wrist, along with a wide cuff shaped metal bracelet of silver or pewter appearance. The flattened main surface of the bracelet has six bands of decorations, with zigzag bands, short vertical line bands, and a wavy curved line design in the center band. At the upper end of the cuff is a thicker convex-curved band with varied intricate designs. Several colored gems are embedded in metal studs and attached to the bracelet. She is wearing a black short-sleeved dress or blouse with three vertical ribbons decorating the shoulder area on each side and another edging the curved neckline. The ribbons have small geometric patterns of red and yellow. The figurine she is holding is slightly larger than her hand and is carved from jade. It represents a bearded man with an elongated head. His arms are bent at the elbows with his clenched hands held just above his waist. His legs appear to be in a semi-seated position. His nose and ears are well-defined, but slender, and his eyes appear as slightly curved horizontal slits. Kahlo’s form fills the left half of the picture, with her hand and the figurine centered in the right side of the frame. There is what seems to be a wide wooden door frame behind Kahlo’s head. It is mostly white with hints of red sparsely brushed in vertical strokes. The plastered wall behind the figurine is a medium blue and includes a ceramic sconce in the top right corner of the frame. It is shaped like half of a flower pot with somewhat chunky mosaic pieces as decorations which include a small red flower and a child’s face with a disconnected body.]
Fritz Henle
German, 1909–1993
Frida in Front of Her Studio with Monkey, Coyoacán, 1943
Gelatin silver print
Throckmorton Fine Art, New York
[Artwork Description: A black and white photograph of Frida Kahlo from waist up, tightly cropped. She is holding a monkey, who is clinging to her left side. The monkey has a small head, a long arm reaching across Frida’s body grasping her neck, brown fur with a white stomach and a thick metal chain that drapes across Frida’s body. She is wearing a huipil, a short sleeved blouse with a squared scoop neck with embroidery around the neckline and a graphic pattern running vertically from the shoulder all the way to the bottom hem. Frida is in the sun and her skin is smooth and light, she’s looking down toward the camera with a neutral expression. She has small, beaded earrings and her hair is braided on each side meeting on the top of the head in large thick braids. Frida and the monkey take up most of the photograph, with a stucco building and a large tree in the background.]
Frida Kahlo
Mexican, 1907–1954
Self-Portrait with Monkeys, 1943
Oil on canvas
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
Here Kahlo depicts herself surrounded by nature and wearing a huipil, a blouse worn by Indigenous women. The red symbol on her garment resembles the glyph “Ollin”, meaning earthquake or perpetual movement in Náhuatl, a widely spoken Indigenous language. Monkeys, too, are represented in ancient Mexican art, another connection the artist makes to the distant past in this work.
[Artwork Description: In this painting, Frida is pictured from the waist up in front of a jungle background of large grayish green leaves. Four black monkeys share the scene. A bird of paradise flower with bright orange, blue, and grayish-green petals is behind her and to her right. Her face is turned toward to the right so that only her right ear shows. She is looking slightly toward the left. Her eyes are brown with black pupils. Heavy black eyebrows curve at her brow line. They meet at the center in a tiny peak. The brows are thinner and lighter at the center. Her nose slopes gently to a rounded end. There is a thin tracing of a mustache above full red lips that show a neutral expression. Her black hair is pulled back tightly with a part in the middle. It appears to be wound in loose coils behind her head. A thick rope of hair or perhaps a wide band decorates the crown of her head. The brightest part of the flower begins beside her coiled hair and curves up to end just above and behind the top of her head. She is wearing a white blouse with short sleeves. The neckline is heart shaped and trimmed with red braid. The point ends just above her breasts. A straight piece of braid with a short tassel facing her left arm is at the point. Below this, a thin piece of red braid outlines a white rectangle. In the rectangle is a design of a four petaled red flower with a white center. There are red lines from each petal to the nearest corner of the rectangle. The four monkeys are all black with bright round black eyes. The eyes, nostrils, ears, and mouths are all trimmed with light gray fur. Two of the monkeys are behind leaves so that mainly their faces are showing. One is behind and slightly above her right shoulder with its right hand hanging over the top of a leaf. Its mouth is in a perfect “O” shape. The other is above, behind, and to the left of Frida. Its mouth is in a straight line in a slight frown shape. The other two monkeys are closer and show their white fronts. Both have mouths that are set in a straight line. One is immediately behind Frida on her left side with its head at the level of her cheek. Its right arm is hidden behind her back, its left arm is hanging over her left shoulder, and its tail is coiled around her left upper arm. The closest monkey is sitting on Frida’s right forearm. Its bottom is near her elbow with its feet near her wrist. Its tail hangs over her arm and disappears outside the bottom picture frame. Its left arm is around her neck and the right hand is touching the design on her blouse. This seated monkey has smooth hair while the other three have hair that sticks up to form a short point at the top of their heads. All are facing straight ahead except for the seated one which is looking to its left.]
Diego Rivera
Mexican, 1886–1957
Landscape with Cacti, 1931
Oil on canvas
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
Rivera often painted landscapes dotted with cacti. He depicted the plants with humanlike qualities, and they recall figures dancing across the desert. By choosing to paint the cactus, a symbol of the Mexican nation, Rivera connected the landscape with ideas of independence—the national flag features a cactus and an eagle holding a snake in its beak.
[Artwork Description: Desert landscape with three large cacti in the foreground and seven in the background at the top and back of the hill. The ground is flat with green, orange, yellow, and brown colors mixed together. On the left is a large cactus with a larger base. It’s shadow extends out to the right. Just past its shadow is another large cactus with rounded bent arms and two additional portions protruding from the chest. Its shadow also extends to the right and runs off the canvas. Situated behind and between the first two is a third cactus. Its right arm is bent and held upward and left one curved and held downward. In the far distance is the horizon of the hill. On the left side is a cactus with a tall center stalk and five arms that are curved downward near the base of the stalk. On the right side there are three larger cacti on the horizon with arms that stretch upward and three that are smaller and only partially visible. The sky above is a green color that almost glows.]