Photographing the Mexican Revolution: Commitments, Testimonies, Icons

328 Pages·2012·106.394 MB·English

by  John Mraz

PhotograP hing the Mexican revolution

P h o t o g r aP h i n g t h e
M e x i c a n re v o l u t i o n
co M Mi t Me n t s , te s t iM o n i e s , i c o n s
John Mraz
university of texas Press austin
Copyright © 2012 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in China
First edition, 2012
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of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Designed by Lindsay Starr
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mraz, John.
Photographing the Mexican Revolution : commitments, testimonies,
icons / John Mraz. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (The William and Bettye Nowlin series in art,
history, and culture of the Western hemisphere)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-292-73580-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-292-73794-5 (e-book)
1. Mexico—History—Revolution, 1910–1920—Photography.
2. Mexico—History—Revolution, 1910–1920—Pictorial works.
3. Photography—Mexico—History. 4. Historiography and
photography—Mexico. I. Title.
f1234.M93317 2012
972'.030222—dc23 2011033193
To revolutionaries . . .
before and behind the cameras
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
introDuction ......................................................................................................................... 1
chaPter 1
The Porfiriato: From the Studio to the Street .................................................................... 17
chaPter 2
Representing the Revolution ................................................................................................. 39
chaPter 3
The Myth of the Casasolas ...................................................................................................... 45
chaPter 4
Learning to Photograph War ................................................................................................. 53
chaPter 5
The Zapatista Movement and Southern Cameras ............................................................. 93
chaPter 6
Photographing the Reaction ................................................................................................. 123
chaPter 7
The Caudillo of the Cameras? .............................................................................................. 167
chaPter 8
The Advantages of Photographing the Constitutionalist Movement ........................ 193
ePilogue
The Icons of the Mexican Revolution ................................................................................ 233
Notes 259
Bibliography 295
Index 309
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Acknowledgments
his book was MaDe Possible by the generosity of many Mexicans
and their institutions. It is, first of all, a product of the Instituto Nacional
T
de Antropología e Historia (inah), and was written at the invitation of
director Alfonso de Maria y Campos as part of the celebration of the cen-
tenary of the Mexican Revolution. Luis Ignacio Sainz, administrative sec-
retary of the inah, was instrumental in carrying out this project, which
was closely linked to my work as curator of the photographic exhibit Testimonios de
una guerra: Fotografías de la Revolución Mexicana. I also thank Miguel Ángel Echegaray,
Abraham Guerrero, and Benito Taibo of the inah for their contributions to this work.
Both the book and the exhibit are based to a great extent on the holdings of the
Fototeca Nacional of the inah, and I am grateful to director Juan Carlos Valdéz for
his assistance and that of his staff, among them Mayra Mendoza and Heladio Vera.
The Fototeca researcher who has contributed most to this effort is Daniel Escorza,
who has looked for images in relation to themes I have proposed, has generously of-
fered information from his own investigations in illustrated magazines, has answered
innumerable questions, and has provided his articles as references. Moreover, I thank
Escorza and researcher Patricia Massé Zendejas for having allowed me to see a se-
lection they had prepared for a photographic exposition on the revolution. I would
also like to recognize the contribution of the director of the inah organization in
Morelos state, Eduardo López Calzada, and of Paloma Corona, director of the inah-
Morelos Fototeca, for having organized three congresses on the imagery of the revo-
lution, from which I learned much.
Research in other archives was important, and I am grateful to the following for
their participation: Archivo General de la Nación; Archivo Roque González Garza of
the Universidad Panamericana; Fondo Andrés Angulo, inah-Tlaxcala; Instituto de
Investigaciones sobre la Universidad y la Educación, unaM; Harry Ransom Humani-
ties Research Center, University of Texas; Departamento de Información y Docu-
mentación de la Cultura Audiovisual, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla;
Colección Gráfica y de Sonido del Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de las