Humberto Rivas

HUMBERTO RIVAS (Argentina, 1937 - Spain, 2009)
"Homage to Man Ray", 1979.
Silver gelatin photograph.
Presents on the back stamp in blue ink "Foto Humberto Rivas".
Provenance: Eude Gallery (Barcelona).
Measurements: 15,5 x 21,5 cm; 42 x 59 cm (frame).
The piece "Homage to Man Ray" (1979), made at the London Zoo, is inscribed in that moment of transition in his career, when he began to consolidate a more refined language. In it, Rivas dialogues with the legacy of Man Ray, one of the great innovators of 20th century photography.
An Argentine photographer who lived in Spain for most of his life and won the Spanish National Photography Award in 1997, Humberto Rivas studied at the School of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, and in 1959 he held his first solo exhibition at the Galatea gallery. During these years he still combined photography with drawing and painting, but in 1970, after the closure of the Instituto Torcuato di Tella, where he collaborated, he decided to devote himself fully to photography. He worked in both artistic and advertising projects, through his own agency, until he finally settled in Barcelona in 1976, fleeing the political situation in Argentina. It was also at this time that he began his teaching activity in various centers in Argentina, Spain and Portugal. He is currently represented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Mar de Plata, the Museum of Modern Art and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, the Los Angeles County Museum of Fine Arts, the National Library in Paris, the MNAC in Barcelona, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the IVAM in Valencia and other important collections, both public and private.