Lola Alvarez Bravo

Lola Alvarez Bravo was Mexico’s first woman photographer, and her career is exceptional both for its remarkable range and for the compelling quality of her work. Approach­ing photography from multiple angles, she worked as a photojournalist, commercial photographer, and professional portraitist, while also creating intensely personal images of people, places, and things throughout her native Mexico. In addition, she played a vital role in the Mexican cultural scene, as an inspiring teacher of photography, as friend of innumerable artists and writers (many of whom she photographed), and as owner of a prestigious gallery that pre­sented the first solo show by her friend Frida Kahlo, the subject of some of Alvarez Bravo’s most powerful portraits.