Getty Exhibition Explores the Evolution of Mexican Photography

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Getty Exhibition Explores the Evolution of Mexican Photography


A woman rests her head on her hand while looking out of a window, framed by the geometric shadows of a trellis.
En su propia cárcel / In Her Own Prison, 1950 Lola Álvarez Bravo | Getty Museum, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona Foundation

A new exhibition explores how 20th-century Mexican photography was shaped by a rich network of artistic connections and cultural exchanges.

Opening September 1, 2026, at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, Instante/revelación: Moments in Mexican Photography brings together works by 13 influential photographers, spanning the late 1920s to the mid-2010s.

A person with a calm expression wears a large cluster of iguanas balanced on their head like a crown.
Nuestra señora de las iguanas / Our Lady of the Iguanas, 1979, printed 1990s, Graciela Iturbide | Getty Museum, Gift of Susan Steinhauser and Daniel Greenberg © Graciela Iturbide
A large, multi-branched cactus stands on a dry hillside, with the Spanish phrase "VIVOS LOS QUEREMOS" written in white on the ground.
Photograph from the series Desaparecen? / Do They Disappear?, 2017 Pablo Ortiz Monasterio | Getty Museum, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © Pablo Ortiz Monasterio
A black-and-white close-up of several sharp, pointed agave leaves reaching upward against a dark, clear sky.
Maguey capado, Hidalgo / Castrated Maguey, Hidalgo, 1984 Mariana Yampolsky | Getty Museum Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © Mariana Yampolsky. Centro de la Imagen de la Secretaría de Cultura, México

This exhibition features works by 13 prominent photographers, including Lola Álvarez Bravo, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Héctor García, Graciela Iturbide, and Pablo Ortiz Monasterio. The photographs, donated by Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser to the Getty Museum over the past 25 years, record the “instantes y revelaciones” (instants and revelations) of a remarkable century of Mexican creativity. The exhibition documents changes in Mexico’s society and photographic culture over 100 years, showing how photographers influenced and responded to one another.

Two women look out from a rectangular window in a wooden wall, with the woman on the left gesturing with her hand.
La muchacha, ferrocarril viejo, México-Cuautla / The Girl, Old Railroad, Mexico-Cuautla, 1966, printed 2010, Rodrigo Moya (Mexican, 1934–2025) | Getty Museum, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © Estate of Rodrigo Moya
A black-and-white shot of a white stucco arched gate topped with a cross, set against a backdrop of hazy mountains.
Cementerio, Mina, Nuevo León / Cemetery, Mina, Nuevo León, 1990, printed later Mariana Yampolsky | Getty Museum, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, © Archivo Fotográfico Mariana Yampolsky Biblioteca Francisco Xavier Clavigero Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México
A black-and-white photograph shows a building facade with a sign for "Instalaciones Eléctricas Hubard y Bourlon" above a large advertisement featuring painted legs and feet wearing shoes.
Dos pares de piernas / Two Pairs of Legs, 1928–29, Manuel Álvarez Bravo | Getty Museum Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo, S.C.

“Photography has long served as a powerful means of capturing both personal experience and collective history,” Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle, and Robert Tuttle Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, say in a statement. “‘Instante/’ traces the creative connections among generations of photographers whose images offer profound insights into Mexico’s cultural life, while demonstrating the power of artistic exchange to shape how we see the world.”

A black-and-white photograph shows a worn, vintage orthopedic corset with four buckled straps resting on a simple wooden shelf.
Photograph from the series El baño de Frida / Frida’s Bathroom, 2007 Graciela Iturbide | Getty Museum Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © Graciela Iturbi
A bathtub filled with orthopedic harnesses, crutches, and a poster of Joseph Stalin pointing upward.
Photograph from the series El baño de Frida /Frida’s Bathroom, 2005, printed 2007 Graciela Iturbide | Getty Museum Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © Graciela Iturbide

The exhibition examines the development of Mexican photography through collaboration, experimentation, and exchanges between artists — including photographs from Graciela Iturbide’s series in Frida Kahlo’s bathroom.

Instante/revelación: Moments in Mexican Photography will be on view at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, from September 1, 2026, through January 3, 2027.

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