2021.14.1
No mataras / You Will Not Kill
Artist
Lola Álvarez Bravo
(Lagos de Moreno, Mexico, 4/1/1907 – 7/31/1993, Mexico City, Mexico)
Title
No mataras / You Will Not Kill
Creation Date
1950-1959
Century
mid-20th century
Dimensions
7 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. (19.69 x 23.5 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
gelatin silver print on paper
Credit Line
Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
2021.14.1
No mataras pictures a religious parade in a rural Mexican village. It combines the artist’s long interest in traditional Mexican rituals with a fascination about how these ceremonies continue to be carried out in the present day. Lola Álvarez Bravo was one of the earliest fine art photographers in Mexico and a key figure in Mexico’s cultural renaissance during the twentieth century. Purchasing her first camera in the 1920s, Bravo went on to forge a successful artistic career that spanned more than six decades. She worked on assignment for magazines and newspapers, ran the influential photography workshop at the National Autonomous University, and operated her own contemporary art gallery in Mexico City. Rather than capturing newsworthy events—a common staple of photojournalists—she was more interested in using her camera to document the Mexican people.
