Hugo Brehme created an idyllic vision of Mexico that influenced photography, film, and literature for a hundred years. His beautifully composed, timeless images of lo mexicano—cacti and pyramids, Indian children and marketplaces, colonial buildings and snow-capped volcanoes and peaks—were widely distributed and acclaimed both in Mexico and internationally. Noted critic Olivier Debroise characterized Brehme as "both the first modern photographer of Mexico and the last representative of its old guard and of a certain nineteenth-century vision." Working in Mexico from 1905 until his death in 1954, he was an early mentor to Mexico's most famous photographer, Manuel álvarez Bravo, and a significant influence on Golden Age filmmakers Gabriel Figueroa and Emilio "El Indio" Fernández. Brehme-esque imagery even appears in the work of American filmmaker John Ford and Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein.
Timeless Mexico presents an outstanding selection of Hugo Brehme's photographs, ranging from imagery of the Mexican Revolution to scenic landscapes, colonial architecture, and the everyday life of indigenous peoples. Susan Toomey Frost, who has collected Brehme's photography for many years, provides an illuminating introduction to his life and work. She also describes his practice of printing and distributing his photographs as collectible postcards—a practice that, together with publication in countless books, magazines, and tourist brochures, gave Brehme's work the wide circulation that made his images of Mexico iconic. Art historian Stella de Sá Rego authoritatively discusses Brehme's place in the history of Mexican photography, especially within Pictorialism, as she reveals how a man from Eisenach, Germany, came to create an enduring visual mythology of the essence of Mexico.

Timeless Mexico: The Photographs of Hugo Brehme (Southwestern & Mexican Photography Series)

Arts & Photography

Frost, Susan Toomey

Photography & Video

University of Texas Press

Equal parts art, biography, and history, Colors on Clay brings to life the artistry, designers, and styles that brought the San José Workshops’ distinctive art pottery to international prominence. Author Susan Toomey Frost tells the story of how two colorful characters, Ethel Wilson Harris and her talented designer Fernando Ramos, revived a dying Mexican art and eventually became the driving forces behind three San Antonio art tile factories, known collectively as the San José Workshops. Produced from 1931 through 1977, the factories’ tiles and wares became celebrated throughout the world and prized in San Antonio for both public and private installations. In addition to historical and biographical information, Frost provides detailed information on authentic tiles, helping collectors steer clear of the many reproductions on the market. Featuring 300 full-color illustrations, including never-before-seen drawings, this exhaustively researched and eminently readable book is an important addition to any collector’s library.

Colors on Clay: The San José Tile Workshops of San Antonio

History & Criticism

Trinity University Press

Witness to War presents a compelling visual record of a young American man's venture in Mexico as the country veered into revolution in the early 1900s. Walter Elias Hadsell, a skilled photographer who had recently graduated as a mining engineer, documented a critical period of foreign investment in Mexico's mining industry and, in the process, captured scenes of Mexican life in other cities. Susan Toomey Frost draws from an extensive collection of Hadsell's original photographic prints to narrate his ten years in Mexico. The images in Witness to War follow him from his time as a mining engineer in Honduras to his 1917 return to mining in Arizona, his home state. Planning for a future career in photography, Hadsell soon acquired the Kodak franchise for Veracruz, Mexico's most important port since colonial times. He documented the damage done in Mexico City during a ten-day uprising in 1913 that led to the assassination of Mexican president Francisco Madero. Veracruz became a vortex for U.S. interference in the Mexican Revolution when President Woodrow Wilson invaded the country in 1914 in an attempt to thwart Mexico's successor president and to favor opposing forces. Hadsell, as a resident American citizen, had immediate access to the military operation as it unfolded. His images are essential historical records of Wilson's intervention in Mexican affairs. Hadsell's camera recorded images of a defenseless city disrupted by the landing of thousands of American troops. With no exit plan, U.S. forces remained for seven months before abruptly departing. Hadsell's personal life took a tragic turn with the death of his wife, who left him with three young children, all born in Mexico. He endured another tragedy with the loss of his Veracruz studio during a period of anti-Americanism, though he ultimately left a rich legacy documenting U.S.-Mexico relations at a critical time.

Witness to War: Mexico in the Photographs of Walter Elias Hadsell

Individual Artists

Tinta Books

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Books by Frost, Susan Toomey