Photography in Mexico at SFMOMA Follows Decades of Art and Photojournalism

By Emma Krasov


Image: Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, Half-Nude in Kimono, 1924; gelatin silver print; 9 5/8 x 4 11/16 in.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Albert M. Bender Collection, Albert M. Bender Bequest Fund purchase; © 1981 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents
Images of Mexico, its land and its people, its outer beauty and its inner conflicts, created by Mexican photographers as well as by the Americans Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Paul Strand, and Tina Modotti, are presented in the all-encompassing new show, Photography in Mexico, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. While the collection of photography started at the museum in time of its opening in 1935, the first images from Mexico became a part of the most comprehensive holding of contemporary photography in 1941, and continued to supplement it in the course of the 20th century.
The current exhibition is organized by SFMOMA with gifts and loans from collectors Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, and features distinguished photographers Katya Brailovsky, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Carrillo, Alejandro Cartagena, Eduardo del Valle and Mirta Gomez, Pia Elizondo, Dave Gatley, Oscar Fernando Gomez, Héctor Garcia, Lourdes Grobet, Graciela Iturbide, Geoffrey James, Mark Klett, Pablo Lopez Luz, Elsa Medina, Susan Meiselas, Enrique Metinides, Pedro Meyer, Rodrigo Moya, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Paolo Pellegrin, Antonio Reynoso, Daniela Rossell, Mark Ruwedel, Victoria Sambunaris, Alec Soth, Yvonne Venegas, and Mariana Yampolsky.
The show is divided into six chapters, each covering a particular political and cultural time period in Mexico from the flourishing new art movements following the Mexican revolution through the development of photojournalism as vital part of everyday struggles and dangers, to contemporary society in Mexico with its deepening divide between the classes to the serious and timely exploration of the US – Mexico border region. An ongoing history of Mexico, documented with the most precise of visual arts, and the very richness of SFMOMA collection material are good indicators of relevance and anticipated popularity of this new enticing exhibition, on view through July 8. SFMOMA is located at 151 Third Street, San Francisco. More information at: 415-357-4000 or www.sfmoma.org