Martin Chambi
Born in 1891, Martin Chambi lived and worked in Cuzco from 1920 until his death in 1973. Cuzco was the ancient capital of the great Incan civilization. Today it is the second city of modern Peru, Its population including generations descended from the Incas. Chambi worked as a local and commercial portrait photographer. His studio was frequented by some of the most prominent members of Cuzco society. He photographed weddings, parties, dances, fiestas, but as Max Kozloff writes, the skill and perception of his work conveys, with unexpected intensity the structure and mood of a complex colonial society meeting the 20th century.
Chambi was a contemporary historian, at least by instinct, and not solely a record maker. He was as interested in the Inca past as he was in Peru’s present and future. Photographs of the Indian life of the time occupy a large place in his output, more by virtue of his alert consciousness of his environment than as a market response. He was among the earliest to have done real photographic justice to Macchu Picchu (probably the most spectacular Incan archaeological site). We also have pictures from his studio that are the first to describe the habits and regalia of outlying mountain communities. These turn out to be rare images, their subjects apparently not willing to be photographed except by one who spoke the Quechua language and was of their own race. A good deal more is therefore involved in this photographic campaign than ethnographic curiosity.
Chambi Collection
from: Photography
Wonderful portraiture and landscaped, documenting life in and around Cuzco in Peru and at Macchu Picchu, developed from the 1920s by the great Native American photographer.