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Retrato de lo Eterno

Artist Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902 - 2002)

Date1932 - 1933

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm)
Sheet: 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm)
Matted: 17 × 14 inches (43.2 × 35.6 cm)

Portfolio/Series"Photographs by Manuel Alvarez-Bravo" portfolio

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Oxnard Jr.

Object number2004.13.3.15

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Copyright© Colette Urbajtel. The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextBuying his first camera in his early 20s, Manuel Álvarez Bravo taught himself the craft by studying photography journals and photographing the streets of Mexico City. In 1927, the Italian artist Tina Modotti introduced him to an influential circle of Mexican artists that included Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and Frida Kahlo, who championed his work. Formally, Retrato de lo Eterno shows a young woman, Isabel Villaseñor, seated on the floor in a dark room gazing into a mirror as she brushes her long black hair. Sunlight rakes across her face from the adjacent window. A famed artist, poet, singer, and songwriter, Villaseñor modeled for Álvarez in several of his photographs after meeting him on the set of ¡Qué viva México!, an unfinished film by Russian avant-garde director Sergei Eisenstein.

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