Dia de Todos Los Muertos [Day of All Dead]
Primary
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
(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)
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 viewManuel 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.
![Los agachados [The Crouched Ones], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17085/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1934
![La de las Bellas Artes [She of the Fine Arts], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17096/thumbnail)
![Barda de panteón [Cemetery Wall], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17086/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1964
![El ensueño [The Daydream], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17092/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1931
![El eclipse or Sábanas [Sheets], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17091/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1933
![Sed pública [Public Thirst], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17094/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1934
![Obrero en huelga, asesinado [Striking Worker, Murdered], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17087/thumbnail)