[Man carrying water jugs]
Photograph
[Man carrying water jugs]
1876
Albumen silver print
Image: 9.3 × 5.9 cm (3 11/16 × 2 5/16 in.)
Mount: 10 × 6.3 cm (3 15/16 × 2 1/2 in.)
Gift of the Cincinnati Historical Society
1989.0190.0028
Inscriptions [no inscriptions]
TextEuropean photographers introduced the carte de visite (tarjeta de visita) to Mexico during the War of the French Intervention (1861–67). In Mexico, as in Europe and the United States, these small portraits were wildly popular among the upper and middle classes, who not only sat for their portraits, but also collected or traded cards depicting family members, friends, and celebrities and compiled them in albums. Antíoco Cruces and Luis G. Campa were Mexico’s most prolific producers of such cartes. They published a series depicting great men of Mexican history for their compatriots; however, for foreign audiences who imagined Mexico as a country of antiquated traditions, they created a series of Mexican working class “types” (tipos), as seen here, for the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia.
