When our friends Al and Stew were visiting Mexico City, one of the places that Al wanted to visit was the "Centro de la Imagen", a cultural center that features photography exhibitions. It is located in a large, late colonial building known as "La Ciudadela" (The Citadel). "La Ciudadela" was originally built to house the Royal Tobacco Factory, but after Mexico won its independence it was converted into a military barracks. In 1946 the building became the Library of Mexico, and in 1994 a portion of it was inaugurated as a photography museum.
Coincidentally, I had just visited the "Centro de la Imagen" the week before. Some of the exhibits were more interesting than others. Ironically, photography in this photography museum is quite difficult. First of all, this is another one of those places that has the ridiculous rule that pictures can be taken only with cell phones. Secondly, the photographs are, of course, behind glass. So, you have to try to position yourself in such a way that you don't get a reflection.
Nevertheless, I did manage to take a few decent pictures from one of the more interesting exhibits... one dealing with Mexican portrait photography.
Some portraits taken at the end of the 19th century, and early 20th century
There were a number of historic photographs of famous Mexicans.
An official portrait of Porfirio Díaz, the President / dictator who ruled Mexico from 1876 until 1911. The photo was taken in 1900.
A portrait of Emiliano Zapata taken in 1913. Zapata fought for the distribution of land to the peasants during the Mexican Revolution.
This photo of the famous mural painter David Alfaro Siqueiros was taken in 1960 when the artist was in jail for his political activities.
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