Mexican Portraits

In the history of photography in Mexico, portraiture is an important, established tradition, transcending styles, subjects, and decades. Mexican Portraits includes more than 350 portraits from over eighty well-known Mexican photographers, including Romualdo Garcia, Agustin V. Casasola, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Enrique Metinides, and Graciela Iturbide. Including both contemporary and classic works, mostly created from the 1970s to the present, this diverse group of images has been selected by photographer and editor Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, presenting an idiosyncratic and personal perspective on this particular genre. This volume, guided by his choices, explores the frontiers of portraiture from very different perspectives and associations. At the center of his wide-ranging selection are two distinct notions embedded in the history of the portrait: mask and metamorphosis. The face is the most communicative part of the human body, with the ability both to reveal and to cover up emotions, creating an ever-fascinating tension between the temporary and the permanent. Organized into nine chapters, this beautifully illustrated book is a reflection on Mexican portraiture and identity, both individual and collective.