"...Un Pez que Llaman Sierra" ("...A Fish Called Saw")

1942, printed 1977

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

Artist, Mexican, 1902 - 2002

A dark-skinned girl stands on a dock holding a fish wider than her hips down in front of her with both hands, one ankle crossed over the other in this black and white photograph. Her body faces us, but she looks up and off to our right. A dark cloth covers her hair and shoulders over a knee-length dress. She wears loafer-style shoes. She stands in front of an upturned rowboat with a severed swordfish head laid on the flat stern, to our right. The long sword-like upper lip angles into the lower right corner of the photograph, and the fish’s large eye is a gaping hole. Buildings on a spit of land that comes about halfway up the composition enclose the body of water in the distance. The contrast of the girl’s dark head covering against the white sky creates an optical effect, making the cloth seem to glow.
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Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Raymond W. Merritt, New York; gift to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1979; acquired by NGA, 2016.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

on verso, signed by artist, lower right in graphite: M. Alvarez Bravo. / México. / 81/100; by Corcoran Gallery of Art, bottom right corner: 1979.86.1

Wikidata ID

Q64157714


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