Monica BravoGreater American Camera, Making Modernism in Mexico

“An engaging investigation of how the relationships between four American photographers and Mexican artists forged new developments in modernism Photographers Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, Paul Strand, and Helen Levitt were among the American artists who traveled to Mexico during the interwar period in search of a community more receptive to the radical premises of modern art. By looking closely at the work of these four artists in Mexico, this book examines the vital role of the exchange between expatriates and their Mexican contemporaries in forging a new photographic style. Monica Bravo offers new insights into Weston’s friendship with Diego Rivera; the images of Modotti’s work, which she publishes alongside the writings of the Stridentists; Strand’s engagement with folkloric themes and the work of composer Carlos Chávez; and Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s influence on Levitt’s contributions to a New World surrealism. Exploring how these dialogues resulted in a distinct type of modernism characterized by inter-American interests, the book reveals the ways in which cross-border collaboration shaped a new “more American” aesthetic. Monica Bravo is an assistant professor in the Art History and Visual Culture Program at the California College of the Arts.”