Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Photopoetry (Ciltli)

A leading figure in the photography of Mexico, Manuel Alvarez Bravo is given an outstanding retrospective in this beautifully produced album. More than 360 black and white photos (20 of them never before published) are reproduced here in rich tritone plates, including landscapes, still lifes, rural and urban scenes, and religious subjects, as well as portraits of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, André Breton, Leon Trotsky, and Octavio Paz. Here too are a large number of nudes, depicted almost reverently in Bravo's soft light, while essays by Carlos Fuentes, John Banville, and Jean-Claude Lemagny explore the visual poetry of his images, his use of light and form, his fascination with dreams, and his preoccupation with death.