The Washerwomen Implied/[Las lavanderas sobreentendidas]

Getty Museum

The Washerwomen Implied/[Las lavanderas sobreentendidas]

Creator

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

Mexican Photographer · 1902–2002

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A self-taught photographer, Manuel Alvarez Bravo purchased his first camera at age twenty while working at a government job. His earliest success at photography came around 1925, when he won first prize in a local photographic competition in Oaxaca. He returned to Mexico City, where he had been born, and in 1927 met Tina Modotti, who introduced him to a lively intellectual and cultural environment

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Date
1932
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Culture
Mexican
Department
Photographs
Institution
Getty Museum

Manuel Alvarez Bravo often chose the Mexican landscape to depict the way people made use of national symbols. In this image, the maguey plant, an icon of strength and perseverance, serves as an improvised rack for drying linens. The title, *The Washerwomen Implied*, alludes to the absent figures who have hung the bedclothes. Though this photograph seeems to document the cultural decline of the maguey, it celebrates the ingenuity of those who find their resources in what is simply available.

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