noted photographer, Max T. Vargas. Remaining
with him for almost a decade, Chambi became
progressively more skilled in photography. Belong-
ing to a prominent family, Vargas was a noted
photographer of Arequipa society, skilled at pro-
ducing flattering images of his social peers. He was
also a good teacher, and Chambi rose to become
virtually his partner. Chambi attempted, unsuc-
cessfully, to establish a branch of the Vargas studio
in La Paz, Bolivia.
Marrying in 1917, Chambi struck out on his own
that same year to establish a studio in Sicuani. In
1920, he moved to Cuzco, briefly setting up with
another former apprentice of Vargas. Eventually,
he established his own studio, settling on Calle
Marque ́s, a location that soon became the most
noted photographer’s establishment in the city.
Like Vargas, he cultivated and appealed to an
upper-middle-class clientele. However, as someone
of Indian descent, he was totally alien to their
society. He viewed his clientele sympathetically
yet with the insight of an outsider. His individual
and group portraits along with his pictures of wed-
dings, parties, and social gatherings have come to
bear rich testimony to the world of Cuzco elites in
the early twentieth century.
In the best of this work, he captures the dignity
and integrity of individuals as reflected in the fea-
tures of their faces, the cast of their eyes, the
posture of their bodies, and the character of their
surroundings. For example, he captured the serene
innocence and assurance of a socialite bride on the
grand stairway of the family mansion. The white
train of her gown flows luxuriously down the steps
while above her rise richly carved banisters mount-
ing to a mezzanine arched by a canopy of stained-
glass roof. Nevertheless, in another portrait, in
which he so carefully captured the flamboyance
of a fashionably dressed belle, one wonders if he
could not also have been quietly yet suitably
ambiguously amused at the extravagance of his
‘‘newly rich’’ clients.
Chambi’s artistic legacy lies even more so in the
work he developed out of doors, with haunting,
memorable views of Cuzco, Indian culture, and
the Andes mountains. Two factors supported
Chambi in his ability to capture the value and
dignity of this environment. He was buoyed by
the professional respect he had achieved in his
society. In addition, he had come to live in a city
that was at the center of a revival of indigenous
Peruvian pride.
In 1924, the Peruvian political leader, Vı ́ctor
Rau ́l Haya de la Torre, living in exile in Mexico
City under the protection of the Mexican Revolu-
tion, founded theAlianza Popular Revolucionaria
Americana (APRA—American Revolutionary
Popular Alliance). This party believed that the
Indian races and the mystical force of their history
would be the basis for developing Latin America,
which it referred to as Indo America. In 1931, Haya
de la Torre returned to Peru, finally able to bring
his Aprista doctrine to his native land. In the early
thirties, this movement, especially in Cuzco, had
cultural, social, and political recuperations still
vibrant today in Peru.
Althoughpolitically indifferent,Chambiacquired
growing respect for his own native roots; he was
increasingly absorbedinto andarticulated themove-
ment that promoted appreciation of indigenous cul-
ture. He was an active member of groups in Cuzco
that brought together journalists, teachers, literary
figures, artists, and other photographers. Gathering
in homes, cafes, or taverns, they extolled the value of
native culture.
Imbued with a sense of his professional worth
and cultural identity, Chambi became an excep-
tionally effective photographer. He photographed
Cuzco with meditative reflections on the aged, sub-
dued dignity of the city’s ancient structures. With
ineffable sympathy and touching respect, he mem-
orialized itinerant Indian musicians, jovial vendors,
and hollow-cheeked street urchins. Among the first
to photograph the newly rediscovered (1911) ruins
of Machu Picchu, he captured the tenacious inge-
nuity of its structures nestled in the breathtaking
sweep and evanescent mists of the Andes.
Much still needs to be studied regarding the
technical achievements and aesthetic components
of Chambi’s genius. He seems primarily to have
used German or English cameras and supplies.
Little as yet, though, has been written regarding
his photographing habits or developing techniques.
How he achieved the singular chiaroscuro (model-
ing of volume by depicting light and shade by con-
trasting them boldly) effects that give such nuance,
subtlety, depth, and richness to his pictures has not
been closely analyzed. A project to catalogue and
preserve the tens of thousands of glass plate nega-
tives began in the late seventies under a team
headed by Edward Ranney in conjunction with
Vı ́ctor and Julia Chambi, two of the photogra-
pher’s children, supported by the Earthwatch
Foundation of Belmont, Massachusetts.
The most productive years of Chambi’s career
spanned nearly a quarter century, from the mid-
twenties to the fifties. The earthquake of 1950 that
devastated so much of Cuzco and its society also
ruptured his career, and his life was increasingly
unsettled with age and illness. Although respectedCHAMBI, MARTI ́N