d***@comcast.net
2005-03-21 22:05:03 UTC
Influential German Photographer, 99, Dies in Mexico
Mon Mar 21, 1:46 PM ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Walter Reuter, who fled Nazi Germany and became
a major icon of Mexican photography by portraying colorful but squalid
life in indigenous communities, died over the weekend. He was 99.
Reuter arrived broke in Mexico in 1942 and began working with a
borrowed camera. He became one of the first outsiders to take pictures
of indigenous women, focusing on their daily chores like making
tortillas and getting water.
His photos may be best remembered for bringing public attention to the
primitive living conditions in Mexico's indigenous villages. Reuter was
also known for his intimate, joyous relationship with his subjects.
"One time I went to a village in Oaxaca to take pictures of dances, but
it was so cold there the people didn't dance," he once told an
interviewer.
"So I taught them a few steps and they liked it so much that they
adopted it as their official dance. If you go to those villages today
in the mountains of Oaxaca and you ask them to dance, they'll still
show you what I taught them."
Reuter died of kidney failure, local media reported. He had continued
working well into his 90s.
Mon Mar 21, 1:46 PM ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Walter Reuter, who fled Nazi Germany and became
a major icon of Mexican photography by portraying colorful but squalid
life in indigenous communities, died over the weekend. He was 99.
Reuter arrived broke in Mexico in 1942 and began working with a
borrowed camera. He became one of the first outsiders to take pictures
of indigenous women, focusing on their daily chores like making
tortillas and getting water.
His photos may be best remembered for bringing public attention to the
primitive living conditions in Mexico's indigenous villages. Reuter was
also known for his intimate, joyous relationship with his subjects.
"One time I went to a village in Oaxaca to take pictures of dances, but
it was so cold there the people didn't dance," he once told an
interviewer.
"So I taught them a few steps and they liked it so much that they
adopted it as their official dance. If you go to those villages today
in the mountains of Oaxaca and you ask them to dance, they'll still
show you what I taught them."
Reuter died of kidney failure, local media reported. He had continued
working well into his 90s.
