Portrait of the Eternal
Original Language TitleRetrato de lo Eterno
Artist
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
(Mexican, 1902 - 2002)
Date1935; printed later
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 9 3/8 × 7 7/16 inches (23.83 × 18.85 cm)
Sheet: 9 15/16 × 7 7/8 inches (25.22 × 19.99 cm)
Sheet: 9 15/16 × 7 7/8 inches (25.22 × 19.99 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2015.20.2
SignedSigned on sheet verso, lower right corner, in pencil: "M Alvarez Bravo"
InscribedOn sheet verso, lower right corner, in pencil: "Mexico."
Markingsnone
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of woman with long wavy hair wearing a nightgown, seated with her legs crossed, and looking into a handheld mirror while her face is illuminated by narrow stream of sunlight.Exhibition HistoryRotation 26. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 29, 2019- August 25, 2019, no cat.
Rotation 24. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – November 12, 2017, no cat.
Gazing into a small hand mirror, this woman seems caught in a personal moment of self-reflection. The work’s title, Retrato de lo eterno (Portrait of the Eternal), suggests deeper meanings about beauty, memory, and time. The subject is Isabel Villaseñor, a poet, sculptor, printmaker, and songwriter. In post-revolutionary Mexican culture (1910–1960), she was idealized as a symbol of female intellect and beauty.
Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2015;
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2015.
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2015.
Copyright© Colette Urbajtel/Asociación Manuel Álvarez Bravo
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