of photographic anthologies and journals.Manuel
Carrillo: Fotografı ́as de Mexico, published by Juan
Salinas Corte ́s in 1989, captured 225 of Carrillo’s
best works.
Although some criticize Carrillo’s work as being
sentimental, his emotional connection to his work
often adds dimension to his documentation of
everyday life in traditional Mexico. The bulk of
Carrillo’s photographs were taken from the mid
1950s through the late 1970s, but his choice of
subject matter gives the photographs a timeless
quality. Children at play, market scenes, and men
at work and leisure show the activities of a broad
spectrum of Mexican society. Melissa Carrillo (no
relation to Manuel), who created an on-line exhibi-
tion on Manuel Carrillo’s work for the Smithso-
nian Institution’s website, describes his work as an
expression of post-revolutionary nationalism, and
notes that Carrillo often expressed pride in his
country. As Robert Tilendis said in his description
of Carrillo’s work:
Carrillo has concentrated on the people and places of
Mexico in his work. His photographs are readily identifi-
able with that county, with a specificity that, rather than
diminishing their meaning, adds to their scope. His mas-
tery of photographic technique and of the elements of
composition combines with a sensitivity to the nuances
of human feeling to produce a series of images rich in
associations.
Manuel Carrillo did his own developing and
printing, but he always concentrated on the image
itself and its composition rather than darkroom
manipulation. The images look deceptively simple
and straightforward, and they often give the im-
pression of happy coincidences, but Carrillo often
waited hours for the right light or effect of shadows.
He always used natural light and never used a flash
or zoom lens. According to a 1982 interview, he
generally produced 66 cm negatives, preferring
his Rolleiflex or Mamiyaflex cameras; all of his
best-known work is in black-and-white. He also
had a 35-mm Nikon that he used for color trans-
parencies (most often for portraits, glamour
photos, or landscapes) and a Hasselblad, which he
used infrequently for wide-angle photography. The
Mexico City earthquake of 1985 virtually destroyed
his darkroom; he also lost some of his negatives and
much of his photographic equipment. This personal
disaster led him to look for a home for his photo-
graphs in the United States.
Carrillo died on 20 January, 1989, leaving be-
hind an important artistic legacy. His works are
held by many private collections, universities, and
museums, including the Victoria and Albert Mu-
seum in London, the Museum of Modern Art in
New York City, the Center for Creative Photo-
graphy in Tucson, the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Chicago, and at least 30 other museums. He
maintained close ties with friends in El Paso, a city
where his family had lived for a time during the
Mexican Revolution and where he received medi-
cal treatment in the 1980s. In 1991, the University
of Texas at El Paso purchased Carrillo’s photo-
graphs and papers from his widow, and the collec-
tion is now housed in the C. L. Sonnichsen Special
Collections Department of the University Library.
A virtual museum of his work is available at
http://latino.si.edu/virtualgallery/manuelcarrillo/mc
code.htm.
CLAUDIARivers
Seealso:Photography in MexicoBiography
Born in Mexico City, 17 January 1906. Attended various
schools including the Mexican Military Academy before
moving to the United States at the age of 17. He worked
at a series of odd jobs in New York. Returned to Mexico
at the age of 24. Worked the Consolidated Railroad and
Pullman Tourism Service and later for the Illinois Central
Railroad from 1934–1966. Married Consuelo Cadena in- Joined the Club Fotogra ́fico de Me ́xico and the
Photographic Society of America in 1955. Honored in
Great Britain in 1966 as one of six outstanding foreign
photographers by the Photographic Yearbook; won a
grand prize for international photography in Bucharest,
Rumania in 1981. In 1980, he was honored by the Photo-
graphic Society of America and made an honorary citizen
of El Paso. Died in Mexico City, 20 January 1989.
Individual Exhibitions
1958 Mi Pueblo; Club Fotogra ́fico de Me ́xico; Mexico City,
Mexico
1960 Mi Pueblo; Chicago Public Library; Chicago, Illinois
1962 Manuel Carrillo; Panamerican Union; Washington, D.C.
1970 Fotografı ́as de Manuel Carrillo; Palacio de Bellas
Artes; Mexico City, Mexico
1978 The Photographs of Manuel Carrillo; The Gilbert Gal-
lery; Chicago, Illinois
1981 Los inseparables; Infonavit; Mexico City, Mexico
1981 La Obra Fotogra ́fica de Manuel Carrillo; Galerı ́a
Alvarez Bravo; Mexico City, Mexico
1981 Manuel Carrillo; Galeria de Arti Fotografica; Buchar-
est, Rumania
1986 Manuel Carrillo; The Silver Image; Seattle, Washington
1998 Manuel Carrillo’s Mexico; Centennial Museum; Uni-
versity of Texas at El Paso; El Paso, Texas
1999 Mexico! Photographs by Manuel Carrillo; Muscarelle
Museum of Art; Williamsburg, Virginia
2000 Revealing Personal Identity: The Indigenous Vision of
Manuel Carrillo; Smithsonian Center for Latino Initia-
tives Virtual Gallery; Washington, D.C.CARRILLO, MANUEL