Apr 03, 2020
Lola Álvarez Bravo’s 117th Birthday
This Doodle’s Key Themes
Today’s Doodle celebrates one of Mexico’s first professional female photographers, Lola Álvarez Bravo, on her 117th birthday. Known for her portraits of public figures, as well as street photography chronicling decades of Mexican life, she is considered one of the country’s pioneers of modernist photography.
Born Dolores Martinez de Anda in Jalisco, Mexico, on this day in 1903, the future photographer moved to Mexico City as a child. It was from her neighbor, Manuel Bravo, that she first learned the basics of photography, including developing photos in the darkroom. The pair married in 1925, and both went on to achieve enormous acclaim for their work.
Álvarez Bravo became a central figure in Mexico’s post-revolution cultural renaissance, and among her most internationally-renowned photographs were those taken in the mid-1940s of her friend, and one of the country’s most iconic artists, the painter Frida Kahlo. Through her photojournalistic lens, Álvarez Bravo captured scenes of everyday Mexican life, from local traditions to outdoor barbershops, portraying the depth and breadth of the country’s culture across a career spanning more than half a century.
In 1981, Álvarez Bravo’s home state of Jalisco awarded her a medal of distinction for her contribution to the arts, and four years later, a plaque was installed in her honor in Guadalajara’s historic Degollada Theater.
¡Feliz cumpleaños, Lola Álvarez Bravo! Thank you for capturing Mexico from the ground up.
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