Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1902–2002 · Mexico
Letting strangeness surface in the real.
The story
In Mexico, Manuel Álvarez Bravo developed a photography attentive to streets, objects, bodies and everyday signs. His work evolved in contact with artistic circles and the muralist movement. He also worked in cinema. The descriptive precision of his images coexists with a dreamlike dimension, shaped by associations of forms and titles that shift our perspective without removing the context.
Understanding the work
Read the title after looking at the image, then return to its details. Relationships between shadows and objects allow several interpretations without requiring a choice between document, fiction and photographic poetry.
Key works and series
La buena fama durmiendo; El ensueño; Obrero en huelga, asesinado; scenes of Mexico City.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
10 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
- MoMA · 1929
El Sistema nervioso del gran simpático (The Sympathetic Nervous System)
Gelatin silver print
