Great Black And White Photographers 2

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

Manuel Alvarez Bravo was one of the most famous photographers in Mexico. He was born on February, 4 1902 in Mexico City, Mexico. He was mostly known for his poetic images which he took in Mexico at the time of his career. He was born into a family of talented writers and artists he was persuaded to follow his family's footsteps. At the age of 13 he left school to work as a office boy and then worked his way up to be a clerk in government offices. He got these jobs at a young age to support his family because at the time they were deemed a the lower class of Mexico which means they were poor and unable t6o afford most luxuries we have today, He studied arts and literature at night everyday to get ahead for his future. He met a German photographer in 1923 that was named Hugo Brehme. At this point he knew he wanted to take pictures for a living and went along and purchased his first camera that same year. He was self taught and got inspiration from other famous photographers in his day and age. He met the Italian photographer that went by the name of Tina Modetti. He then met much more famous photographers that helped him with his work. Soon he began to work at a newspaper company called the Mexican Folkways. Tina Modetti got deported back to Italy which left a space in the newspaper staff for someone else, so Manuel took the job for his friend that was forced to leave the country. Manuel had his first man show in 1932 which then led to his love of cinema. He got to work as a cameraman for the movie “Que Viva Mexico” which sadly was never completed, but that didn’t stop Manuel from pursuing his dreams. In 1935 he was a part of a groundbreaking photo exhibition at the gallery in New York City. His work had transformed over the years of his career. He was inspired by different photographers for different  that he worked as a photographer. Alvarez continued his career until his death at 100 years old. He died on October 19, 2002 in Mexico City, Mexico which was the same place that he was born. I was persuaded to do Manuel Alvarez Bravo because of his origin story and his way of taking pictures really clicked to me and I said “I'm going to do research on this man right here”.