Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Brehme (Hugo) Views of the Mexican Revolution
98.R.5
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Hugo Brehme Views of the Mexican Revolution
Date (inclusive): 1913-1920
Number: 98.R.5
Creator/Collector:
Brehme, Hugo
Physical Description:
108 photographs
(1 box)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
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.
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.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact the Head of Special Collections, Getty Research Institute for copyright information
and permission to publish.
Hugo Brehme views of the Mexican Revolution, 1913-1920, Research Library, The Getty
Research Institute, Accession no. 98.R.5
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa98r5
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.
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.
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, Eufemio
Zapata, Josefa Espejo
Weber, Wilhelm
Zapata, Emiliano
United States. Army
Battleships -- United States
Military camps -- Veracruz (Veracruz-Llave, Mexico)
Pictorialism (Photography movement) -- Mexico
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
Mexico -- Description and travel
Portraits
Gelatin silver prints -- Mexico-20th century
Photographs, Original
Brehme, Hugo