MANUEL CARRILLO
Mexican
Born in Mexico City at the home of his grand-
parents on January 17, 1906, Carrillo was the son
of an important Mexican family with roots in the
northern state of Chihuahua. His grandfather,
Lauro Carrillo, was a close ally of Mexican dic-
tator Porfirio Dı ́az, and an uncle, Adolfo Ruiz
Cortines, served as President of Mexico from
1952 to 1958. Manuel Carrillo attended several
private schools in Mexico and worked briefly in
the fledgling Mexican film industry before moving
to the United States at the age of 17. In the
United States, he worked at a variety of odd
jobs, mostly in Chicago and New York, washing
dishes, teaching dance at the Arthur Murray Stu-
dios, and finally for the Wall Street firm of Neuss
Hesslein and Co. He returned to Mexico at the
age of 24 and worked for a pioneer of the Mex-
ican tourist industry, Alberto L. Bravo. He later
took a job with the Illinois Central Railroad,
where he eventually became the manager for
their Mexican operations.
At the age of 49, he joined the Club Fotogra ́fico
de Me ́xico and soon afterwards the Photographic
Society of America. Within the ranks of these
two organizations, he developed his art and a rep-
utation as an artistic genius. He was often called
‘‘El Maestro Mexicano’’ or ‘‘El Foto ́grafo del Pue-
blo’’ for his mastery of the photographic medium
and his skill in capturing the essence of the Mex-
ican people. Carrillo’s greatest regret was that he
started his photographic career so late in life. Sev-
eral of his early photographic exhibitions were
sponsored by his employer, the Illinois Central
Railroad, and one of his best-known photographs
isGarrotero de Nonoalco, a photo of a railroad em-
ployee on smoke-shrouded tracks near Mexico City.
His first exhibition,Mi Pueblo, opened at the
Club Fotogra ́fico de Me ́xico in 1958, where he
had previously participated in several group exhi-
bitions. From the time he joined the organization
in 1955, he was active with the group; he won
many awards, and the club named a special tro-
phy for him in 1982 that honored its master
photographers, and in 1985 it also named an
exhibition gallery for him. A version of theMi
Pueblo exhibition was displayed at the Chicago
Public Library in 1960 and was viewed by an
estimated 100,000 visitors.
In 1966, he entered a print entitledDog on his
Master’s Gravein aSaturday Reviewphotography
contest. He won first prize in the monochrome
category—out of 149,000 entries—and the photo
was published in the January, 1967 issue. This
award and Carrillo’s evocative photographs soon
brought him international fame. Many of Carril-
lo’s photographs depict animals, reflecting a long
interest in animal rights and animal protection
efforts. One of his best-known photographs
shows a mass of street dogs, many emaciated, as
they wait for food from a private feeding effort in
Mexico City. The focus is not sharp, and Carrillo
commented in an interview that he had difficulty
taking the photo because of the tears in his eyes.
Pictures of children and old people with their
animal friends were favorite subjects for the
photographer.Los Inseparables, an exhibition fea-
turing people and animals, was shown at an event
celebrating the animal protection law passed in
Mexico in 1981.
Soon after his 1967 success in the Saturday
Reviewphoto competition, hisMi Pueblocollec-
tion of images depicting the people of Mexico
toured photo clubs and galleries in the United
States with great success. His friend Frank Chris-
topher arranged for many of the exhibitions and
encouraged the publication of his photographs in
foreign magazines. In 1970, his photographs were
selected for an exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas
Artes (the national art museum) in Mexico City,
and a few years later they represented Mexico in a
tour of the Federal Republic of Germany. Since
1975, his work has been exhibited in 20 different
countries in Europe, Asia, and North and South
America. In 1980, he was honored at a meeting of
the Photographic Society of America and was
made an honorary citizen of El Paso. Also in
1980, his work was the subject of a feature in
Photozoommagazine.
By 1988, Carrillo’s work had been seen in 209
individual exhibitions and 27 group exhibitions in
Mexico, the United States, and countries around
the world. His work has been published in a varietyCARRILLO, MANUEL