In her introductory text for this exhibition, Marta Gili, director of the Jeu de Paume, points out that, beyond the myth, the work of Manuel Alvarez Bravo has almost always been presented as the most “for a complacent Western audience, eager for ‘exoticism’ and ‘surrealism.’ Today his work deserves to be freshly analyzed, approached and placed in context. For example, we can consider his lesser-known photographs by adopting other points of view, and exhibit his photographs that have rarely (if ever) been put on display, or even screen his films (8mm and Super-8), most of which have never been shown.”

We recall that during the exhibition of Paul Strand and Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Mexico, held earlier this year at the Fondation H.C-B, cinema took center place in the discussions and reflections around the show. In this exhibition, co-produced by the Jeu de Paume in Paris and the Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid, in collaboration with the Fundación Televisa in Mexico, the two curators, Laura González Flores and Gerardo Mosquera present their case Manuel Alvarez Bravo (1902 - 2002), whose work spans eight decades, beginning in 1924, is one of the “founders of modern photography.”

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Read the full text of this article in the French version of Le Journal.

Exhibition
Manuel Alvarez-Bravo (1902-2002)
Un photographe aux aguets
Until January, 20th 2013
Jeu de Paume
1 place de la Concorde
75008 Paris - France
+33 (0) 147 03 12 50
Wednesday - Sunday 11am - 7pm
Tuesday 11am - 9pm

Book
Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Texts by Laura Gonzales Flores, Gerardo Mosquera, Ivan de la Nuez, Roberto Tejada, Alvaro Vazquez Mantecon
French, English and Spanish
Éditions du Jeu de paume/Fundacion Mapfre/TF Editores Hazan
288 pages 24x30cm