Through Paul Strand’s Lens: Capturing the Soul of Mexico in 1932
- dthholland
- 7 hours ago
- 7 min read
In 1932, Paul Strand arrived in Mexico at a pivotal moment in the country’s modern history. He did not come as a casual tourist or detached observer, but as a guest of the Mexican government—specifically invited by Carlos Chávez, the newly appointed director of fine arts within the Secretariat of Public Education. Chávez, a composer and intellectual with strong cultural ambitions, was at the centre of efforts to shape a modern, post-revolutionary Mexican identity. He believed in the role of the arts as a tool for national expression and reform.
Mexico had emerged from a decade of revolution just over a decade earlier, and the state was now attempting to unify the country through the celebration of shared heritage, indigenous culture, and contemporary progress. This period saw a flourishing of muralism, with artists such as Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco crafting public artworks that merged socialist ideals with native traditions. Strand, with his deep political convictions and artistic integrity, was a natural fit for this project of cultural renewal.
What Strand offered was not propaganda, but clarity. With his camera, he began to explore the textures and rhythms of Mexican life—from the religious iconography embedded in church facades to the faces of rural labourers shaped by sun and soil. These were not tourist pictures nor idealised visions. They were quiet yet powerful records of people and places caught between old certainties and a rapidly shifting world.
The Rise of a Modernist Photographer
By the time he set foot in Mexico, Paul Strand was already regarded as a leading figure in the world of photography. Born in New York in 1890, he had studied under Lewis Hine at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School and was introduced to Alfred Stieglitz, whose journal Camera Work and gallery 291 were at the forefront of photographic modernism. Strand's early photographs, taken in the 1910s, marked a radical break with the prevailing Pictorialist style that dominated American photography at the time.
Where the Pictorialists embraced soft-focus lenses, painterly compositions, and romantic subjects, Strand turned his gaze to the street and the city. His sharp, crisp images captured the geometry of modern architecture, the abstraction of shadows and light, and the strength of industrial forms. In 1916, he produced a series of portraits—most famously Blind Woman—that were notable for their directness and dignity. These images, printed with rich tonal precision, were among the first to treat photography as a serious modern art form, worthy of exhibition and intellectual attention.
Strand believed that photography should be truthful but not cold, beautiful but not decorative. He saw the camera as a tool for both art and social inquiry. His work, always evolving, retained this dual commitment throughout his career.
Politics, Portraits, and a Sense of Purpose
Strand’s artistic choices were never divorced from his political convictions. He was a lifelong Marxist and saw photography as a way to communicate ideas about class, labour, and the human condition. His portraits of workers and rural communities, whether in the United States, Mexico, or later in Europe and Africa, were marked by a sense of respect and solidarity.
He was not interested in exoticising his subjects or extracting aesthetic pleasure from their poverty. Instead, he focused on capturing the resilience and inner strength of ordinary people. His sitters often look directly into the camera, meeting the viewer with an expression that is neither submissive nor performative. There is mutual recognition, even a quiet defiance, in their gaze.
This ethical approach made Mexico a deeply suitable context for Strand’s work. The country’s new cultural policy, with its emphasis on uplifting native and mestizo populations and celebrating regional traditions, mirrored many of the themes that had long animated Strand’s practice. The commission gave him an opportunity to explore how individuals and communities sustained their identity amidst a rapidly modernising society.
Mexico in Transition: The 1932–1934 Journey
The early 1930s were a formative time in Mexico’s national development. The revolutionary wars of the 1910s had settled into a period of reconstruction and reform, and the post-revolutionary government was actively shaping a new narrative for the country. It was a story that emphasised unity through diversity, championed rural and indigenous life, and sought to present Mexico not as backward or colonial but as a culturally rich and politically progressive nation.
Strand travelled extensively throughout the country from 1932 to 1934. He photographed in cities and rural villages alike, capturing a visual dialogue between past and present. He took striking images of colonial churches—some weathered by time, others still central to village life—as well as intimate scenes of crucifixes, candles, and folk religious practices. These photos were neither devotional nor critical. They were observant, recognising the continued presence of faith in daily life.
He also turned his lens to the landscapes and built environments of Mexico, paying attention to the interplay of architecture and light. And most importantly, he photographed people: men, women, and children who represented the spirit of the country. Some posed formally, others were captured in the midst of daily routines. Across all these works was a consistent tone of quiet reverence.
Strand made more than 175 negatives during this period, and by the end of his journey he had produced around 60 finished platinum prints—a considerable body of work that revealed the complexity of a nation both steeped in tradition and facing an uncertain modern future.
Warmth in Every Frame: Strand’s Printing Techniques
The emotional tone and visual warmth of Paul Strand’s Mexican photographs owe much to his meticulous approach to printing. While many photographers of the time used silver gelatin paper for its ease and affordability, Strand favoured the platinum printing process for its superior tonal depth and archival stability. Platinum prints offer a wider range of greys, subtle mid-tones, and a matte surface that absorbs light rather than reflecting it. This gives the images a quiet richness that suits the dignity and introspective mood of Strand’s subjects.
But it was with Photographs of Mexico, published in 1940, that Strand took his printing ambitions to another level. He selected 20 images from his Mexican travels for this portfolio, which was produced in a limited edition of 250. Each image was reproduced as a hand-pulled photogravure, a labour-intensive method that involves etching the photographic image onto a copper plate and then printing it using ink and a press. This technique, used since the nineteenth century, was known for its fidelity to the original photograph’s tonal values.
Strand entrusted the work to The New York Photogravure and Colour Company, one of the most skilled printmakers of the period. After printing, each photogravure was coated by hand with a transparent varnish, which added a subtle sheen and protected the surface. The result was a set of prints that did not just document reality but evoked a timeless, almost sculptural presence.
In 1967, recognising the enduring value of the work, Strand reissued the series under the revised title The Mexican Portfolio. This time printed in an edition of 1000, the newer volume brought the work to a broader public. Though the second edition lacked the hand-varnished finesse of the original, it retained the quiet authority of Strand’s vision and helped cement the photographs’ place in the canon of modern photographic art.
Public Engagement and Enduring Legacy
Paul Strand did not see photography as a pursuit for collectors or critics alone. He believed art should be accessible, meaningful, and tied to the communities it depicted. His time in Mexico reflected that ethos. During his stay, he held an exhibition of his photographs in Mexico City that was notable not only for its content but also for its democratic spirit. Admission was free, and the public responded with enthusiasm. Locals who had never set foot in an art gallery came to see the exhibition, encountering themselves and their country through Strand’s respectful and honest lens.
This open approach was consistent with the post-revolutionary government’s own agenda, which aimed to bring culture to the masses through murals, public libraries, and educational programmes.
Strand’s photographs, while created with artistic precision, did not shy away from the realities of rural poverty, religious devotion, or ageing infrastructure. Yet they always elevated their subjects. In doing so, they contributed to a larger visual narrative about the endurance of the Mexican people.
The legacy of this work endures in more than just prints and books. It influenced generations of documentary photographers who sought to blend aesthetic quality with ethical engagement. His work in Mexico sits comfortably beside his later projects in Ghana and France, as well as earlier efforts in the United States, as part of a lifelong effort to show how ordinary lives are shaped by history and political change.
A Life Beyond Borders
Strand’s time in Mexico marked the beginning of a more global phase in his career. After returning to the United States, he continued to pursue projects that examined the interplay between tradition and transformation. However, by the early 1950s, the political climate in America had become inhospitable to leftist artists and intellectuals. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist investigations swept up many artists accused—often without evidence—of subversive activity. Strand, as a known Marxist with international connections, was not immune.
Rather than wait to be blacklisted, Strand chose to leave. He relocated to France, where he spent the rest of his life. Far from diminishing his creativity, exile seemed to focus his energies. He continued to travel and work on photographic books that combined his images with essays by writers and scholars. Projects like Un Paese (1955), about an Italian village, and Ghana: An African Portrait (1964), reflected his enduring commitment to understanding communities in transition.
Even in later life, Strand remained obsessed with the quality of the printed image. He supervised every stage of book production, ensuring that the printing methods did justice to the texture and spirit of the original negatives. His photographs from Mexico, printed with such care decades earlier, served as a lasting benchmark.
The Mexican Portfolio: A Testament in Print
Today, The Mexican Portfolio is recognised as one of Paul Strand’s defining achievements. It stands as more than a collection of photographs; it is a cultural document that captures a moment in time when Mexico stood at the crossroads of tradition and modernity. Each image reflects a deep engagement with place, a visual sensitivity to light and structure, and an unwavering respect for the people depicted.
In an age when digital photography often sacrifices material quality for speed, Strand’s work reminds us of the power of the printed image. His commitment to craft, his political consciousness, and his desire to elevate the everyday make his Mexican photographs as relevant now as they were when first published.
Strand saw in Mexico a mirror of the wider human condition—a place where change was both exhilarating and painful, where old ways met new pressures, and where the endurance of the human spirit could be traced in the lines of a face or the worn surface of a doorway. Through these photographs, that story continues to be told.
Sources
Greenough, Sarah. Paul Strand: An American Vision. National Gallery of Art / Aperture, 1990
Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography. Museum of Modern Art, 1982
Strand, Paul. The Mexican Portfolio. Da Capo Press reprint, 1967
Hambourg, Maria Morris. “Paul Strand and the Mexican Renaissance,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 1997
Aperture Foundation. Paul Strand Archive
Fundación Televisa. Paul Strand en México, 2010
International Center of Photography. “Paul Strand Biography”
