Lola Álvarez Bravo

Soft-focus black-and-white studio portrait of the head of a light-skinned young adult woman in profile. Her curly dark hair is pulled back in a low bun.

Photo by Gustavo Silva, ca. 1920; Private collection, Mexico City

1907 to 1993

A native of Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, a small city on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, she moved to Mexico City with her family when very young. Orphaned at eight, she was raised by relatives. In 1925, she married the young Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo, who had been a friend and neighbor for many years.

Lola assisted her husband in the darkroom and soon began taking her own pictures. The couple knew many of the most important Mexican artists of the day, including José Clemente Orozco, Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo.

In 1934, Álvarez Bravo’s marriage ended. She established a successful independent career, taking inspiration from the work of such photographers as Edward Weston and Tina Modotti. For the next 50 years, Álvarez Bravo photographed a variety of subjects, creating documentary images of Mexico’s villages, city streets, and peoples. She also experimented with photomontage.

Álvarez Bravo’s had her first solo exhibition in 1944; numerous solo and group shows followed. From 1951 through 1958, she directed her own Mexico City gallery. In 1953 her gallery presented Frida Kahlo’s only solo exhibition in her native country during her lifetime. By the late 1980s, Álvarez Bravo had stopped making photographs because of failing eyesight.

Artist Details

  • Name

    Lola Álvarez Bravo

  • Birth

    Lagos de Moreno, Mexico, 1907

  • Death

    Mexico City, 1993

  • Phonetic Spelling

    LOH-lah AHL-vah-rehs BRAH-voh

  • NMWA Exhibitions

    • Defining Eye: Women Photographers of the 20th Century, 1999–2000
    • Preserving the Past, Securing the Future: Donations of Art, 1987-1997, 1997
    • A History of Women Photographers, 1997
    • Lola Alvarez Bravo: Portraits of Frida Kahlo, 1992

Works by Lola Álvarez Bravo

De generación en generación

Like her friend Frida Kahlo, Lola Álvarez Bravo celebrated the traditional costumes and customs of her country’s varied regions. The woman in this photograph wears a black wool wrap skirt and woven belt distinctive to the village of Hueyapan in a mountainous area of south-central Mexico called Morelos.

While the photograph itself is unposed, the composition of De generación en generación has been carefully...

View Artwork Details
Black-and-white photograph of a woman wearing a dark skirt and light blouse holding a child. The woman faces back and her dark braid reaches past her waist. The dark-haired child stares at the camera and wears a white embroidered dress. Other figures are slightly visible beyond.

Lola Álvarez Bravo, De Generación en Generación, ca. 1950; Gelatin silver print, 18 3/4 x 14 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of the artist; © 1995 Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona Foundation

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