Photography in Argentina 1850 - 2010: Contradiction and Continuity

[gr82bart]

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/argentine_photography/index.html
Current exhibition at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. There are 7 parts to the show:

1. Civilization and Barbarism - it's no coincidence that Charles DeForest Fredricks' daguerreotype of German immigrants playing cards was the feature photo, several albums on display depicting the "street photography" of the era; family portraits taken by commercial photographers
   
2. The Indigenous People - in typical colonial era photography, indigenous people were photographed as they were captured and enslaved as indentured workers or as they were being forced converted to Christianity; modern photographers expropriate their cultural dress to put on a fashion show - plus ca change, plus ca meme choses
   
3. The Gaucho - the Argentinian archetype - Francisco Ayerza, an amateur photographer, transformed the the rural farmer to masculine standard through a series of staged photographs
   
4. Evita and the Modern City - is there anything more cliche about Argentina than Eva Peron? A good steak, I guess....
   
5. The Aesthetic Gesture - photography as art versus a documentary / political vehicle
   
6. The Political Gesture - what is photography if not also a political vehicle? If my other post is any indication, people with privilege get very testy when that eroding privilege is even subtly indirectly called out - so one can imagine what the ruling junta at the times thought of grandmothers waving photos their disappeared grandchildren to their faces, in public no less - the nerve dredging up the past, right? Those grandmas are real "activists" AF
   
7. Fissures - lots of found pics, architectural pics, environmental pics

Some photographers to note:
Dead Link Removed
http://www.seashellsandsunflowers.com/2011/09/vintage-gauchos.html#.Wcg3WqIy6ZM
https://www.lomography.com/magazine/332870-the-vintage-collages-of-grete-stern
https://fromthebygone.wordpress.com...-heinrich-german-born-argentine-photographer/

This was a great show. I highly recommend viewing it.

Regards, Art