Manuel Carrillo
Mexican, 1906-1989

Juegos de Ninos (Children's Games), 1960 ca.
gelatin silver print
10 7/8 x 14 in.

SBMA, Gift of Arthur and Yolanda Steinman
1985.50.110





“Manuel Carrillo has worked at his trade with a passionate and quiet intensity portraying the human dilemma in literal terms to enable the largest possible audience to receive and understand his message.” - Frank Christopher

COMMENTS

Although Mexico-born photographer Manuel Carrillo didn’t embrace photography until late in his life, it was clear what subjects interested him most from the first time he used his camera to seriously pursue his art: his homeland and its people, especially those in rural areas; children, the elderly and their animals.

The photographer, who spent years in the United States before returning to Mexico, didn’t approach them with a social outsider’s curiosity, but with compassion, respect and some humor.

That perspective is evident in the powerful black-and-white images he captured during post-revolution Mexico, which will be on display in an exhibition titled “Mi Querido Mexico (My Beloved Mexico): The Photographs of Manuel Carrillo” at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach from Friday to Nov. 30.

“Manuel Carrillo is someone who has been underrepresented, under seen. He’s recognized as a master of Mexican photography,” said Stuart Ashman, MOLAA president and CEO, who curated the exhibit.

“He started photographing late in life and he didn’t leave a huge body of work, but he really had a very sensitive approach to the people of Mexico and their lifestyle and you can see that in his work.”

One photograph in the exhibit shows a proud Mexican man in a sombrero holding thick ropes in his hands and what appears to be a saddle over his shoulder. He looks up toward the sun with a stern, dignified look on his weathered face. Another shows a young boy on what appears to be a cold, cloudy day leading his two skinny horses to a body of water for a drink.

Carrillo captured fun moments as well, like children playing baseball in the sand with nothing but a bat and a ball.

“It’s a very almost sentimental look at Mexico, and that’s why we named this show ‘Mi Querido Mexico.’ You could tell that feeling from the photographs,” Ashman said.

Known as “El Maestro Mexicano” (the Mexican master), Carrillo was born in Mexico in 1906 and moved in 1922 to New York, where he worked in a series of jobs before returning to his homeland in 1930. He then had a 36-year career as a local agent for the Illinois Central Railroad’s Mexico City office until his retirement.

It wasn’t until the age of 49, in 1955, that he got into photography seriously, when he joined the national Club Fotografico de Mexico and the Photographic Society of America. His first international exhibition came in 1960. It was held at the Chicago Public Library and was called “Mi Pueblo” (My People) and, much like the MOLAA exhibit, it depicted everyday life in rural Mexico.

“He had a tremendous amount of respect for the indigenous people of Mexico and you can tell by looking at the work the respect he had and the beauty of that culture.”

- Excerpted from Richard Guzman, “Manuel Carrillo’s Passion for Mexican Life …”, Long Beach Press-Telegram, 5/9/14
http://www.presstelegram.com/lifestyle/20140509/manuel-carrillos-passion-for-mexican-life-on-display-in-molaas-mi-querido-mexico-exhibit