The exhibition “Shadow and Light” attempts to construct a visual discourse that will make possible an exploration of what our photographic avant- garde really was; it also aims to bring two brilliant photographers who were contemporaries of Álvarez Bravo out of the shadows.
The choice of these three artists can be explained by several points of convergence and shared influences, particularly in the early stages of their careers and in the formative years of their personal styles, in the late twenties and thirties. For example, all three worked for the Public Education Ministry (SEP) and published their photographs in the same magazines and journals such as Mexican Folkways, Revista de Revistas, Nuestro México, Todo, El Universal Ilustrado and Excélsior.
The exhibition presented at the Instituto Cultural de México in Paris aims to establish a visual dialogue between the images created by these artists, underlining their unique characteristics, their common themes, and their strong desire to construct imaginary worlds that anchor them deeply in post-revolutionary Mexican culture.
10 november 2010 – 25 february 2011
Instituto cultural de México
119 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 75003 Paris
