Lola Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1905-1993

Raices (Roots), n.d.
gelatin silver print
8 1/8 x 7 1/4 in. (image)

SBMA, Gift of Rush Lennon
1994.42



Photo of Lola taken by Manuel, 1924

COMMENTS

Dolores (Lola) Álvarez Bravo was one of Mexico’s first professional women photographers, documenting daily life in Mexico and portraying an array of international leaders.

A native of Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, a small city on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, she moved to Mexico City with her family when very young. Orphaned at eight, she was raised by relatives. In 1925, she married the young Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo, who had been a friend and neighbor for many years.

Lola assisted her husband in the darkroom and soon began taking her own pictures. The couple knew many of the most important Mexican artists of the day, including José Clemente Orozco, Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo.

In 1934, Álvarez Bravo’s marriage ended. She established a successful independent career, taking inspiration from the work of such photographers as Edward Weston and Tina Modotti. For the next 50 years, Álvarez Bravo photographed a variety of subjects, creating documentary images of Mexico's villages, city streets, and peoples. She also experimented with photomontage.

Álvarez Bravo’s had her first solo exhibition in 1944; numerous solo and group shows followed. From 1951 through 1958, she directed her own Mexico City gallery. In 1953 her gallery presented Frida Kahlo's only solo exhibition in her native country during her lifetime. By the late 1980s, Álvarez Bravo had stopped making photographs because of failing eyesight.

NMWA EXHIBITIONS
Defining Eye: Women Photographers of the 20th Century, 1999–2000
Preserving the Past, Securing the Future: Donations of Art, 1987-1997, 1997
A History of Women Photographers, 1997
Lola Alvarez Bravo: Portraits of Frida Kahlo, 1992

SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS

Born Dolores Martínez in Jalisco, Mexico, Lola Alvarez Bravo was one of Mexico’s most significant photographers. Like other female artists linked with famous male partners, her work has often been overshadowed by that of her husband, renowned photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo. They married in Mexico City in 1925 just as Manuel’s photographic career photography began to take off. In 1934, Lola and Manuel separated. It was during this time when Lola turned to photography, which she had learned from Manuel, as a means of supporting herself and their son.

Raices is rare for its lack of human presence so common in Alvarez Bravo’s work. This work nonetheless highlights the anthropomorphic qualities of the ceiba tree found in Mexico as well as throughout Central and South America. In the Maya world view, the concept of a sacred central tree linking the underworld, earth, and heavens was often represented by the sturdy trunk of a ceiba tree, similar to the one depicted here.

- Myth and Materiality: Latin American Art from the Permanent Collection, 1930-1990 (2013)

Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s first wife, Lola Alvarez Bravo, shared his passion for photography as would the son they later had. When they separated in 1935, Senora Bravo worked as a photographer and later became head of the photography department at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. Known for her portraits of the painters and artists of the day, Senora Bravo also organized the only one-person exhibition of paintings by Frida Kahlo in Mexico in her lifetime.

- SBMA Wall Text, 2000