The Mexican Revolution and Modernity in Photography

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate recent advances made by researchers in the study of photography from the Mexican Revolution, which took place between 1910 and 1920. The research reached a peak during 2010, the centenary of the Revolution. Studies of these photographs have been carried out from a Mexican perspective, but also incorporate views from around the world, which makes it possible to observe and test new methodologies, approaches and concepts, thereby enriching understanding of the photography's form and style. This study leads to the proposal that photography of the Mexican Revolution was a precursor to modernization of photography on an international level. With a brief overview it is possible to observe that the images created during this period gave rise to new trends in photography which emerged years later in Europe and the USA. Photography which was spontaneous, live, or depicted the everyday realities of war contained elements which preceded those seen in photographs from the First World War. Other photographic forms and styles which developed post-war had already been evident in Mexican photography a decade earlier. In addition to this, it is important to acknowledge that these images were circulated in European and American magazines. This may have led to the creation of a style of imagery which preceded the European wars, influencing contemporary photographers abroad, and in some way forging a new visual discourse – which was required in order to document the changes in every day life caused by civil or world wars.