Photographs by Agustin Victor Casasola 1900—1940
Essay by Pete Hamill
Acclaimed author and journalist Pete Hamill hails Agustin Victor Casasola as “one of the giants of twentieth-century photography . . . bringing to vivid life the events surrounding he immense social cataclysm called the Mexican Revolution." Beginning to make photographs for use in newspapers in about 1900, Casasola, a former typographer and newspaper reporter, documented the crucial years of Mexico's transformation from a rural society into a fully modern one during the first half of the twentieth century.
Casasola photographed it all, from the lavish celebration in 1910 of President Porfirio Diaz's eighth election, to the day one year later when he sailed into exile and Mexico City's streets were filled with joyful citizens saluting the rebel Francisco Madero. Unfortunately for Mexico, the thirty-four years of Diaz’s rule (peaceful but harshly restrictive and punitive) were followed by nearly two decades of rebellion, strife, and outright war, led by revolutionaries such as Emiliano Zapara and Pancho Villa, both of whom were photographed alive and dead by Casasola.
In about 1912. Casasola and his brother, Miguel, created what may be one of the worlds first photo agencies, working with a group of photographers to cover Mexico in all its aspects — from crime and the courts to entertainment, industry, and home life. Included here are pictures of Diego Rivera marching in a Communist rally with the Russian exile Leon Trotsky; the Nicaraguan revolutionary, Cesar Augusto Sandino; photographer Tina Modotti, and countless other people of the times, from Indians and peasants to actors, scientists, and government officials. Full of life —night and day, city and country — the photographs offer an unparalleled portrait of Mexico during the dynamic first half of the twentieth century.
The archive the Casasola brothers established, comprised of nearly 500,000 images, has become a treasure of the Mexican government. Reproduced i n this book are more than 150 stunning images from the collection.
In addition to Pete Hamill's historical overview of the Casasola years, two additional essays address the photographer himself, his agency, and the monumental collection he and his brother Miguel left behind. The book offers a fitting tribute to these great figures in the international world of photography.