La Visita [The Visit]
Primary
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
(Mexico City, Mexico, 1902–2002)
NationalityMexican, North America
Date1935
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsSheet: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)
Framed: 15 1/2 × 17 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (39.4 × 45.1 × 4.4 cm)
Image: 6 1/2 × 9 in. (16.5 × 22.9 cm)
Framed: 15 1/2 × 17 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (39.4 × 45.1 × 4.4 cm)
Image: 6 1/2 × 9 in. (16.5 × 22.9 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, 2017.611.7
Rights Statement
Collection AreaLatin American Art
Object number2017.611.7
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. “La Visita” shows Álvarez Bravo’s interest in uncanny imagery often characterized as surrealist. These life-size figures of saints were designed as articulated sculptures to be dressed up and paraded through the streets during religious festivals. The photographer plays with their realistic qualities, such as scale and pose, to present the saints as if in the middle of a conversation.
![La de las Bellas Artes [She of the Fine Arts], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17096/thumbnail)
![La buena fama durmiendo [Good Reputation Sleeping], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, printed 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17090/thumbnail)
![La quema [The Kiln], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17095/thumbnail)
![El sistema nervioso del gran simpático [Greater Sympathetic Nervous System], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, printed 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17089/thumbnail)
![Parábola óptica [Optical Parable], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17084/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1931
![El ensueño [The Daydream], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17092/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1931
![Tumba reciente [Fresh Grave], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, printed 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17088/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)
![Un poco alegre y graciosa [Somewhat Gay and Graceful], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17093/thumbnail)
![Paisaje inventado [Invented Landscape], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17061/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
1974
![Trampa puesta [Set Trap], from Fifteen Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1974](/internal/media/dispatcher/17060/thumbnail)
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
circa 1930s