Manuel Álvarez Bravo lived 100 years. Born in 1902, he worked trhough the most exciting periods of the twenthiest century and met with surrealists and well as pioneers of the movie industry.
His work is at the centre of an exhibition at the Paris' Galerie du Jeu de Paume, prestigious centre for photography.
Manuel Álvarez Bravo. A Photographer on the Watch (1902-2002)
from 16 October 2012 until 20 January 2013
The photographes unabled to go through eight decades of Alvarez Bravo's work, represent an essential contribution to Mexican culture in the 20th century.
"While not denying the links with Surrealism and the clichés relating to Mexican culture, the selection of 150 photographs is designed to bring out a specific set of iconographic themes running through Álvarez Bravo’s practice: reflections and trompe-l’œil effects in the big city; prone bodies reduced to simple masses; volumes of fabric affording glimpses of bodies; minimalist, geometrically harmonious settings; ambiguous objects, etc", the curators wrote.
My favourite quote from the exhibition presentation at the venue:
Rêver: à l'instar du poète Pedro Calderon de la barca, Manuel Alvarez Bravo pressent que la vie est un songe. Le monde visible est une rêverie de plus: une image fragile, délicate, périssable. La photographie devient poésie qui seule peut saisir ce qui est changeant, intangible: le passage transitoire de l’être humain sur la terre.
If you are in Paris, enjoy the Month of Photography and do not miss the Manuel Álvarez Bravo exhibition!
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NB. My favourite pictures:
Como isla (1963-4)
El lago de los chichicuilotes (1963-4)
Ventana cerrada (1930)
Fabula del perro y la nube (1935)
La falsa luna (1967)
Que chiquito es el mundo (1942)
El soñador - le rêveur (1931)
Obrero en huelga asasinado (1934)
La buena fama durmiendo (1938)
Tana (1940)
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More here:
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1070-the-photography-of-manual-alvarez-bravo-1902-2002
http://www.jeudepaume.org/index.php?page=article&idArt=1631&lieu=7
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