Artist profile: Manuel Alvarez Bravo

If a person were to question the value of photography as an art form, all that would be necessary to convince them of its worth would be to view the work of Manuel Alvarez Bravo. His photography transcends the mere capturing of an image and takes it far beyond.

Bravo was born in Mexico City in 1902. As a teen, he borrowed a camera from a neighbor for a short time, and bought his first camera in 1924. He worked for a time as a stills photographer in the Mexican movie industry, and taught photography at the Film Institute in Mexico City. As a teacher, Bravo often discussed the arts and literature, rather than techniques of photography. He became on of the most important photographers of the twentieth century, and many consider him to be the greatest Mexican photographer.

Diego Rivera, a Mexican painter, was an important influence to Bravo. He introduced Bravo to many important people from Mexico and other parts of the world. Another influence on his work was modern European art, mainly surrealism and cubism.

Bravo had an influence on people in his personal life, as well as his country. His first two wives took up photography, and his third wife was a French photographer. He lived to be one hundred years old.

Bravo photographed everyday, ordinary things, but through his eyes and the lens of his camera, they became so much more. His use of light and shadow, the contrast of bright and dark areas, and composition make his photographs appear as if they were carefully construed, although it is apparent in many of his photos that he was recording the everyday things he saw. It seems as if an artist spent hours rendering each stroke and detail, instead of a man with a camera capturing a moment in time.

For example, in his photo entitled “What a Small World,” it seems as if the man and woman are meeting in the street to purposely exchange gifts. Upon closer inspection, one comes to realize that the two probably did not even know each other. It was just a random moment captured to create a scenario and story in the eye of the beholder.

“Daughter of Dancers,” rich with textures and contrasts, looks like almost like a pencil drawing, or pen and ink rendering. It shows a girl in a long white skirt standing in front of a herringbone patterned wall. The observer can almost feel her curiosity as she peers into the darkness of a round hole or window in the wall.

A weathered cross with a piece of driftwood lying against it are the subjects of “Sea of Tears,” which perhaps show the influence of religion in Bravo’s world. At first glance, the driftwood looks like a person kneeling at the foot of the cross.

Bravo does more than simply take the ordinary and transform it into a work of art. His photographs show that the potential for beauty is in everything around us. We just have to have the eyes to see it.