Mexican Suite

The history of photography in Mexico was a largely untold story until the 1994 publication of Olivier Debroise's "Fuga Mexicana, un recorrido por la fotografia en Mexico". Based on ten years' research in public and private photographic archives in Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, and Europe, "Fuga Mexicana" provided the first comprehensive survey of Mexican photography from the advent of the daguerreotype in 1839 to the present. Now this benchmark publication is available in English as "Mexican Suite". Olivier Debroise and Stella de Sa Rego have revised this edition to include more current material and explanatory notes for an audience less familiar with Mexican history. They have also eliminated some of the general history of photography and added more of the early history of photography in Mexico, as well as many new, previously unpublished images. The book is organized both chronologically and thematically, which allows viewer/readers to follow the evolution of major photographic genres and styles. Debroise also examines the role of photography in the development of modern Mexico and the influence of prominent foreign photographers such as Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. In its totality, "Mexican Suite" constitutes an extended essay on Mexican culture as a whole and on how this culture has been read, interpreted, and imagined. Olivier Debroise is an art and cultural historian, critic, curator, novelist, and filmmaker who lives in Mexico City. Stella de Sa Rego is Archivist of Pictorial Collections at the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico.