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Image Not Available for Dia de Todos Los Muertos [Day of All Dead]
Dia de Todos Los Muertos [Day of All Dead]
Image Not Available for Dia de Todos Los Muertos [Day of All Dead]

Dia de Todos Los Muertos [Day of All Dead]

Primary (Mexico City, Mexico, 1902–2002)
NationalityMexican, North America
Date1933
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsSheet: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm)
Framed: 18 × 15 1/2 × 1 3/4 in. (45.7 × 39.4 × 4.4 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Burt Wolf on behalf of Ian H. Zwicker of NYC; Gift from The Contemporary Austin to the Blanton Museum of Art, 2017.611.5
Rights Statement
Collection AreaLatin American Art
Object number2017.611.5
On View
Not on view
Label Text
Manuel Álvarez Bravo studied briefly with Italian-born, Mexico-based photographer Tina Modotti. When she was deported from Mexico in 1930 for political reasons he purchased her cameras and took up her practice of capturing everyday images in the streets of Mexico City. In “Día de Todos Los Muertos,” he plays with the traditional motif of “death and the maiden” in the context of the Mexican popular celebration dedicated to honoring one’s ancestors. A young woman holds a sugar skull; her smile and the word “amor” [love] written on the confection simultaneously challenge and affirm human mortality.