Juan Guzmán (born Hans Gutmann,
[Frida Kahlo: Images of an Icon – Photographer Biographies]
Tacoma Art Museum. Retrieved 7 January 2014. also known as "Juanito";
[ 28 October 1911 – 6 November 1982][Gutmann, Hans 1911-1982]
WorldCat Indentities. Retrieved 7 January 2014.) was a German-born Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
photojournalist
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...
. He was known as a war photographer of the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
and later on his work with Mexican painters Frida Kahlo
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...
and Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
.
Life
Hans Gutmann was born in Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
.[Photographing the Lost Mural of Diego Rivera]
In the Darkroom. Retrieved 7 January 2014. In 1936 he joined the Spanish Civil War as a volunteer of the International Brigades
The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...
. Gutmann later became a Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
citizen and changed his name to Juan Guzmán.["El instante luminoso: los artistas plásticos a través de la mirada fotográfica de Juan Guzmán", Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2014.] There are more than 1,300 photographs from the Spanish Civil War in the archive of Agencia EFE (Madrid). His most famous image is the picture of 17-year-old Marina Ginestà standing in top of Hotel Colón in Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. It is one of the most iconic photographs of the Spanish Civil War.
After the war Guzmán fled to Mexico, where he arrived in 1940.[ He worked for major Mexican magazines and newspapers and became a friend of ]Frida Kahlo
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...
with whom Guzmán shared similar political views.[ In the 1950s he took many photographs of Kahlo and her husband ]Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
.[ Guzmán also photographed the artwork of Mexican painters like ]Gerardo Murillo
Gerardo Murillo Coronado, also known by his signature "Dr. Atl" (October 3, 1875 – August 15, 1964), was a Mexican painter, writer and intellectual. He is most famous for his works inspired by the Mexican landscape, particularly volcanoes, an ...
, Jesús Reyes Ferreira Jesús Reyes Ferreira, (1880-1977) born José de Jesús Benjamín Buenaventura de los Reyes y Ferreira and also known as Chucho Reyes, was a self-taught artist and antiques/art collector and vendor. Reyes Ferreira began painting on crêpe paper, a d ...
and José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...
.[ Juan Guzmán died in ]Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
in 1982.[
]
Archive
Juan Guzmán's archive consists of about 170,000 photographs. Part of the material remained, while Guzmán was still alive, in the hands of the media where he had worked. In addition, he sold parts of his archive (for example, a series of 2000 pieces on Mexican art was sold by him to the INBA in the 1970s). The rest he left to his wife Teresa Miranda as an inheritance, and she sold the archive to the Televisa Foundation in 2006. There are only a few series held in other hands, such as the 2000 negative images sold to EFE in 1987; various photographic works related to Mexican art sold to UNAM in the early 1990s; photos about foot and mouth disease and other rural subjects, to the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo
Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (Chapingo Autonomous University) is an agricultural college located in Texcoco, Mexico State in Mexico. The university is a federally funded public institution of higher education. It offers technical and full ba ...
.
References
1911 births
1982 deaths
Photographers from Cologne
German emigrants to Mexico
Mexican photographers
Spanish Civil War photographers
German people of the Spanish Civil War
{{Germany-photographer-stub