Tracking down the Work of Álvarez Bravo

The Association Manuel Álvarez Bravo has in their possession around 33 thousand negatives of one of the most representative photographers of the 20th Century. Yet the team in charge of cataloging is still wondering about the identity of the people portrayed by the artist. According to Aurelia Álvarez, director of the Association and daughter of the photographer, there are no similarities between the portraits – all subjects are from different ages, classes and have different characteristics – which leaves no clue as to their identities.

To overcome this lack of information, the team, formed by Claudia Perulles, María del Carmen Mondragón, José Ángel Rodríguez and Aurelua have created stories based on the attitude of the subjects or the background of the photograph: “Mainly, we have come up with their professions: dancer, matador, wife of ambassador or businessman, politician, editor, architect, artist, writer, scholar, unknown sculptor, assistant of famous painter, maid, someone close to Mr. Manuel's family, daughter, niece.”

Her first attempt to uncover their identities was to place an “Identify” tab with the photographs of strangers in the website of the Assosiation, but it didn't work. Her second strategy required some came out-of-the-box thinking: they started a campaign in Donadora, a crowdfunding platform where people fund projects in exchange for a gift.

“We want to spread the work of Mr. Manuel and reveal unpublished works from his archive,” said Aurelia. With the logo “Wanted. Unpublished Portraits of Manuel”, they started a project to gather at least $ 260 thousand Mexican pesos that will help them buy material, pay for restoration and taxes, and cover the cost of a photographic studio, for five months, after which they plan to mount an exhibition at the Photography Archive Museum in Mexico City, in 2018.

There are less than 10 days left for the campaign at Donadora to end, and they have received more than $ 74 thousand Mexican pesos. The rewards offered by the Association depend on the amount of the donation – which can go from $ 200 Mexican pesos up to five thousand Mexican pesos.

Regarding the gifts for donations, Aurelia says “they were selected considering what we can make, or what we have at our disposal. Books are always welcome and not always found in libraries...And since we are already printing at the studio, we thought people would like to have an original print using the technique of Mr. Manuel, printed at his lab. A print that will not necessarily be reprinted...except some of the portraits were to become audience favorites!”

For the team led by the daughter of Álvarez Bravo, it's highly important that many people go to the exhibition and help identify the greatest number of portraits possible, so the Association can complete, in time, “this huge ensemble of unknown people. That is how the artist and his work are kept alive, and people take over, in the best sense, of an inheritance that belongs to us all...”

The website for the campaign at Donadora is https://donadora.mx/projects/se-busca-retratos-ineditos-de-manuel-alvarez-bravo

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