Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
INVENTORY OF THE HUGO BREHME VIEWS OF THE MEXICAN
REVOLUTION, 1913-1920
98.R.5
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Hugo Brehme views of the
Mexican Revolution
Dates: 1913-1920
Collection number: 98.R.5
Creator:
Brehme,
Hugo
Extent:
108 photographs (1
box)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Libary
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Abstract: German-born Mexican photographer. Photographs
by Hugo Brehme document two episodes of the Mexican Revolution: La Decena
Trágica of 1913, the ten days of counter-revolutionary insurrections against
President Francisco Madero; and the American occupation of Veracruz in 1914.
Also included are several general views of Mexico, circa 1914-1920.
Request Materials: To access physical materials on site, go to the
library catalog record for this collection and click "Request an Item." Click here for
access policy .
Language: Collection material is in
German and
Spanish.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact
Library Rights and Reproductions
Hugo Brehme views of the Mexican Revolution, 1913-1920, Research
Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 98.R.5
Acquired in 1998.
Annette Leddy researched and processed the photographs and wrote
this finding aid in Fall 1998. Beth Ann Guynn revised the finding aid in Spring
2007.
Biographical / Historical Note
Hugo Brehme, born in Germany in 1882, arrived in Mexico in 1908 with
his wife and photographic equipment. Though he expected the visit to be
relatively brief, he spent the rest of his life in Mexico and is considered one
of the founders of Mexican pictorialist photography. His early photographs were
documentary, and include views of the Mexican Revolution that have served as
source material for various 20th century Mexican artists. The most famous of
these, the portrait of Zapata in Cuernavaca, was for many years attributed to
Agustín Víctor Casasola, with whom Brehme collaborated from 1913 to1914. After
the revolution, Brehme turned to pictorialism, making impressionistic views of
the Mexican landscape and inhabitants. These photographs, taken as he wandered
with cumbersome equipment through remote, often mountainous regions, were
highly acclaimed when published in his collection México Pintoresco (1923).
Brehme continued to publish photographs in magazines such as National
Geographic and Mapa, and in various books about Mexican culture and geography,
until his death in 1954.
Brehme, Hugo, México pintoresco, México
D.F.
, 1990 (1923).
Brehme, Hugo, México: una nación persistente:
fotografías, México D.F.
, 1995.
Brehme, Hugo, Pueblos y paisajes de México,
México D.F.
, 1992.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection documents two significant episodes of the Mexican
Revolution: La Decena Trágica of 1913, the ten days of counter-revolutionary
insurrections against President Francisco Madero, culminating in Madero's
arrest and betrayal by Victoriana Huerta; and the American occupation of
Veracruz in 1914, Woodrow Wilson's effort to oust Huerta and thereby correct
the Taft administration's collusion in Madero's defeat and assassination. The
twenty-nine images taken in Mexico City in February 1913 show cannon-bombed
buildings, groups of Maderistas, and scenes at the Ciudadela, which was held by
the Felicistas. Sixty-three images of U.S. forces in Veracruz depict
battleships and the fieldcamp where American soldiers lived during the
occupation. There are also four photographs related to Emilio Zapata's entry
into Cuernavaca in 1911 following the resignation of President Porfirio Díaz.
The general views of Mexico offer a sample of the pictorialism for which Brehme
is known; these include landscapes and local color images, with some
photographs related to developments in the Revolution after 1914.
Annotations on versos are in German and Spanish. German annotations
are in the hand of Wilhelm Weber, Brehme's partner. Numbers at the beginning of
the annotations may refer to negative and/or file numbers.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in four series:
Series I: Emilio Zapata in Cuernavaca, 1911
Series II: La Decena Trágica, 1913 Feb 9-18
Series III: American forces in Veracruz, 1914
Series IV: General views, 1913-1920
Zapata, Emiliano,
1879-1919--Portraits
Zapata, Eufemio,
1873-1919--Portraits
Zapata, Josefa
Espejo--Portraits
United
States--Army
Battleships--United
States
Military camps--Veracruz
(Veracruz-Llave, Mexico)
Pictorialism (Photography
movement)--Mexico
Mexico--Description and
travel
Mexico--History--Decena
Tr´gica, 1913
Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920
Mexico City
(Mexico)
Veracruz-Llave (Mexico :
State)
Veracruz (Veracruz-Llave,
Mexico)--History--American occupation, 1914
Gelatin silver
prints-Mexico-20th century
Photographs,
Original
Weber, Wilhelm