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Creator
Manuel Álvarez BravoMexican Photographer · 1902–2002
All works by this person →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
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1935
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Culture
- Mexican
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
The expression on Isabel Villaseñor's partially lit face reveals a moment of psychological complexity, when, gazing into her small mirror, she appears caught between vanity and insecurity. Artist, poet, singer, and songwriter, Villaseñor was a remarkable personality and talent in post-revolutionary Mexico. Manuel Alvarez Bravo's image affords a voyeuristic view of a private moment. Though Villaseñor remains modestly clothed, her long hair cascades around her, symbolizing intimacy and sexual assent.
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