Produced in conjunction with the preeminent Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, Aperture's essential series Photography Speaks will be reissued as one newly revised and expanded edition in the fall of 2004. From Matthew Brady to Cindy Sherman, more than 150 artists are represented in this new, combined volume spanning the entire history of the medium. This compendium contains biographical information and an original statement from each artist, accompanied by an example of their work. A favorite with photographers and requisite course material for many students, the discourse on art and artistry contained in this volume is of unprecedented scale, collecting the writing of such diverse photographers as William Henry Fox Talbot, Eugène Atget, Alfred Stieglitz, Lewis Hine, August Sander, Man Ray, Weegee, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Robert Heinecken, and Lucas Samaras. New additions include selections from Nadar, William Eggleston, Eikoh Hosoe, Gordon Parks, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Christian Boltanski, and Rineke Dijkstra. The contributors expound on topics such as their method and intentions, the state of the arts, or the medium itself. Photography Speaks has been and will continue to be a vital reference source, an enduring testament to the art of photography and an engrossing text for artists and enthusiasts alike.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo has said of himself, "I was born in the city of Mexico, behind the Cathedral, in the place where the temples of the ancient Mexican gods must have been built." And as this selection of photographs shows, the too are deeply rooted in the culture of the Mexican people. Alvarez Bravo's unique eye for the monumental, the mundane, the mysterious reveals a vision of universal interest, rooted in the everyday yet always looking beyond. He focuses on the subtleties of human interaction to make eloquent images of dreams, death, and the transient life.

Since early in his photographic career, the photographs of Alvarez Bravo have been respected by artists from around the world. It is only recently, however, that Alvarez Bravo's importance as a master of photography has been confirmed in a series of major retrospective exhibitions at the International Center of Photography, New York; the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Israel Museum. Jerusalem; the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid; the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Aperture is proud to acknowledge the contributions Manuel Alvarez Bravo has made to photography and to make available this selection of his wide-ranging work in this volume of its Masters of Photography series.