Campus Gallery Exhibits Sabino Osuna’s Photographs of the Mexican Revolution
This fall, Hampshire College’s Leo Model Gallery will shed new light on an unheralded photographer of the Mexican Revolution. Mexico at the Hour of Combat: Sabino Osuna’s Photographs of the Mexican Revolution will be on display at the gallery from September 7 to December 1, with the opening and a panel discussion on October 17.
These rarely seen images present the Mexican Revolution from the perspective of the relatively unknown photographer Sabino Osuna. Osuna was a skilled portrait photographer living in Mexico City who thoroughly documented the war, especially during its early years, 1910–14. He enjoyed excellent access to both sides of the conflict and captured many moods of this dramatic period.
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco Madero against longtime dictator Porfirio Díaz. The revolution is generally considered to have lasted until 1920, although the country endured sporadic outbreaks of warfare well into that decade. The revolution led to the creation of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 and the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (National Revolutionary Party), which was renamed the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI) in 1929. Under a variety of leaders, the PRI held power until the general election of 2000.
The Mexican Revolution offered a nascent generation of photographers the opportunity to document a moment of drama, celebration, and tragedy. Advances in technology such as the regular use of halftones in popular periodicals and the ability to transmit images phototelegraphically contributed to an increased use of photography to tell the story. Both sides in the conflict relied on the visual exposure that photojournalism could provide. Gun and camera were intimately connected, and the photographers were aware that they were recording history.
The 50 images in the exhibition were selected from the Osuna Collection of 427 glass negatives that are held in the University of California Riverside Libraries Special Collections & Archives. The exhibition was originally organized by the University of California Riverside.
Mexico at the Hour of Combat is supported by the Hampshire College Film, Photography, and Video Program and the Leo Model Gallery Fund.
Leo Model Gallery Hours
Monday to Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 1–5 p.m.
For more information, please call 413.559.5482 or e-mail jmurray@hampshire.edu.
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