On View
Not on viewObject number2020.32
La espina (The Thorn)
Artist
Lola Álvarez Bravo
(Mexican, 1907 - 1993)
Dateca. 1950-59, printed 1975
Mediumsilver gelatin photograph
Dimensionsmat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
sheet: 8 × 9 1/2 in. (20.3 × 24.1 cm)
sheet: 8 × 9 1/2 in. (20.3 × 24.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dr. Edward (Ted) Lance-Gomez Family in memory of Rosa Marcela Calderón de Lance
Exhibition HistoryPulitzer Arts Foundation, 2017
"Art, Music & Feminism in the 1950s," KIA Galleries 3 & 4 (January 21 - May 7, 2023).Label TextLola Alvarez Bravo married Manuel Alvarez Bravo in 1925, when he was beginning his career as a photographer in Mexico City. They worked side by side for nearly a decade. Together, they were part of the cultural circle that included groundbreaking artists such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo (her friend from girlhood), Rufino Tamayo, and David Siqueiros. After their divorce in 1935, both artists went on separately to achieve success and acclaim among Mexico’s most consequential photographers.
Alvarez Bravo's interests coincided with an international movement in photography focused on capturing everyday people in unassuming moments and activities. Like many of her colleagues, she heralded the indigenous cultures of Mexico. Much of her work resulted from observing the world around her and waiting for exactly the right moment to capture her subject. La Espina reveals this desire: Alvarez Bravo’s lens presents a couple, perhaps in a marketplace, as a woman observes her companion plucking a thorn from their foot. In the photographer’s capable hands, this act becomes a moment for consideration. Alvarez Bravo’s first major solo exhibition occurred in 1944 at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. From 1951 to 1958, she ran her own gallery, where she presented the only solo exhibition Frida Kahlo had in Mexico during her lifetime. [Label for "Art, Music & Feminism in the 1950s”, 2023]
