On view now through November 15, 2010 at Aperture Gallery, Paul Strand in Mexico is a historic exhibition comprised of over a hundred photographs by one of the great modern masters, including Strand’s vintage prints; stills from his classic film, Redes (The Wave; 1936); and previously unseen documents and ephemera related to Strand’s time in Mexico in 1932-34, and again in 1966. This unique and important photographic portrait of Mexico at a critical point in its history will open at Aperture Gallery on September 16, 2010, to coincide with the celebrations commemorating the bicentennial of Mexico’s Independence (1810) and the centennial of its Revolution (1910).

From Oct 15, 2010 through Oct 16, 2010 Aperture will present  symposiums bringing together a distinguished group of international scholars and practitioners from Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. To find out more about the Paul Strand in Mexico symposiums click here.

© Paul Strand/Aperture Foundation. Above: Man, Tenancingo de Degollado, 1933.

© Paul Strand/Aperture Foundation. Above: Boy and donkey, 1933.

© Paul Strand/Aperture Foundation. Above: San Luis Potosi, 1933.

© Paul Strand/Aperture Foundation. Above: Guanajuato, 1966.

© Paul Strand/Aperture Foundation. Above: Church, Atotonilco, Jalisco, 1966.

© Paul Strand/Aperture Foundation. Above: Boats and Sea, Progreso, Yucatan, 1966.

In a recent survey leading up to the release of the 30th anniversary issue of PDN, readers voted Josef Koudelka’s Invasion 68: Prague (Aperture, 2008) one of the most influential books of the decade. The book (which has been published in in ten countries, most recently in Russia) gathers more than 250 of the photographs Koudelka took in August 1968 during the Prague Spring, when Warsaw Pact tanks invaded Prague and Soviet soldiers clashed with citizens and protesters. Koudelka had just returned from Romania where he was working on his long-term project photographing gypsies when the invasion began. His photographs of the occupation, the first reportage work he had done, were smuggled out of the country and distributed by Magnum Photos. Some of the work was published with credit to an unknown Czech photographer, and Koudelka was given a Robert Capa Award anonymously.

People in the suburbs watch the occupying forces arrive.

Defending the Czechoslovak Radio Building

At the Czechoslovak Radio building, Vinohradská Avenue.

On 22 and 23 August, Wenceslas Square was cleared of people.

Distribution of anti-occupation news.

A newspaper distributor holds a blood-stained copy of Svobodné slovo.

Paolo Ventura’s Winter Stories are narratives set in a small fictional Tuscan village in the early 1950’s; an imagined place full of dream-like memories. A reception for the artist will be on Wednesday, December 9th, 6–8pm. Winter Stories will be on view December 10, 2009–January 23, 2010, at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler, 537 West 24th Street, New York City. The exhibit is in conjunction with the release of a new monograph Winter Stories, published by Aperture.