Mexico in Color

On Thursday I went downtown to the Palace of Fine Arts to see an exhibit called "Mexichrome - Fotografía y color en México" (Photography and color in Mexico).

Mexico is an incredibly colorful country, but throughout the early years of photography the country was recorded in black and white.  Even after the development of color photography, the higher cost or film and development discouraged many local photographers.

This exhibit is a collection of color photographs taken in Mexico.  They span decades and a wide range of subject matter.  Some were taken by Mexican photographers and others by foreigners.

Here are some of the photographs on display...

This picture was taken by a Mexican photojournalist in 1998.  It shows Mayan women in the state of Chiapas resisting an incursion by the army into their territory.  The photo was published in a newspaper in black and white.  The original color photograph, the description notes, provided the contrast between the red in the women's garments and the green uniforms... "the national colors in full conflict."

Vintage color postcards

The Church of Santa Prisca in Taxco - 1950

Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma - 1965 (My, how it's changed since then!)

Mayan costumes and the ruins of Uxmal - 1970

Ciudad Satélite was a suburban development outside of Mexico City begun in the mid-1950s.  The landmark sculpture known as Satellite Towers were photographed in 1959.  You won't see any cow grazing nearby anymore.

This opulent mansion of questionable taste was being built in 2012 by a Mexican politician.  The photographer captured the image as a testimony to the excess and corruption of government officials.

 

"Rejas" are the grillwork to be found at the windows and entrances to most Mexican homes.  This series of photos taken between 1998 and 2000 makes a colorful composition.

The famous artist Rufino Tamayo and his wife photographed at their home in 1978.

A woman with her eight children photographed in 1967

In 1972 a photographer from the U.S. was the first to record in color the inhabitants of the remote villages of the Huichol tribe.

Christmas morning of 1973 in the Tarahumara Mountains of the state of Chihuahua (yes, it snows there.)

Mexico City street scene in 1973.  For the Summer Olympics of 1968 the government painted many buildings with bright murals to disguise urban blight.

Mexico City street scene, 1963

The Mexica (Aztec) Hall of the National Museum of Anthropology, 2015

Restoration work on a sculpture of the Mayan rain god at the National Museum.

(That was before the Anthropology Museum existed.)

Frida Kahlo holding an Olmec sculpture, 1938

Tourists at the ball court of Chichén Itzá, 1982

The Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan, 1961

The volcano Popcatépetl, 1950

The volcano Iztaccíhuatl seen from an unusual perspective, 2005