The International Center of Photography presents Sergio Larrain: Wanderings, an exhibition consisting of prints drawn entirely from the Magnum Photos archive. Curated by Agnès Sire, former Director of the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, the exhibition primarily highlights the work Larrain made during the first twenty years of his career, in cities such as Valparaíso, Santiago, Paris and London.
Wanderings provides a new perspective on Larrain’s inventive and humanist photography that for decades has remained little seen and seldom exhibited, looking at both the material and spiritual drama of rural and urban life while also charting the subtle evolution of Larrain’s style.
About Sergio Larrain
Sergio Larrain, born in 1931 in Santiago into a Chilean family rich in art and culture, studied forestry at University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan. He became a freelance photographer, worked for O Cruzeiro magazine, and received a British Council scholarship in 1958. He joined Magnum Photos a year later after meeting Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris. Larrain's notable series include Vagabond Children (1957), London (1958–59), and Valparaíso (1952–62). In 1963, he published his first book, El rectangulo en lamano. Later in life, he collaborated with Pablo Neruda and focused on transcendental meditation. Larrain passed away in 2012 at his home in Tulahuén, Chile.
About Agnes Sire
After a master in philosophy and esthetics, Agnès Sire worked at Alexandre Iolas Gallery in Paris before joining the team of the Magnum Photos Paris office. She worked there as artistic director for 20 years and has been co-author of several collective Magnum projects such as Magnum Cinema and Behind the iron curtain. She also handled the publication of various individual photographers’ books like Henri Cartier-Bresson: Mexican note book or Valparaiso and London by Sergio Larrain. She taught for two years at Sorbonne University and in 2004 she became director of Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris. For 15 years, she was the curator of most of the 45 exhibitions presented there.
Image credit: ©Scott Rudd for ICP
Special Thanks
Exhibition organized in collaboration with Magnum Photos
Exhibitions at ICP are supported, in part, by Caryl Englander, Almudena Legorreta, ICP Board of Trustees, and Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
