26 Facts About Mariana Yampolsky

Mariana Yampolsky was a Mexican-American photographer.

Mariana Yampolsky was born in the United States, but came to Mexico to study art and never left, becoming a Mexican citizen in 1958.

Mariana Yampolsky was born September 6,1925, in Chicago, Illinois.

Mariana Yampolsky's father, Oscar Yampolsky, was a Russian Jewish sculptor and painter who had immigrated to the United States to escape anti-Semitism.

Mariana Yampolsky was raised on her paternal grandfather's farm in Illinois until she finished high school.

Mariana Yampolsky's mother was from an upper-class German Jewish family whose family would later immigrate to Brazil to escape the Nazis.

Mariana Yampolsky received her Bachelor of Arts in the social sciences from the University of Chicago in 1944.

Mariana Yampolsky died on May 3,2002, survived by her husband Arjen van der Sluis.

Mariana Yampolsky's career began when she arrived to Mexico City to study painting and sculpture at the National School for Painting, Sculpture and Graphics, commonly known as La Esmeralda.

Mariana Yampolsky met Pablo O'Higgins, who would introduce her shortly thereafter to Leopoldo Mendez.

Mariana Yampolsky became a member of the Taller de Grafica Popular in 1945 as the only woman at the time.

Mariana Yampolsky was a printmaker with this group until 1960, and the first member of its executive committee.

Mariana Yampolsky learned to dance many of the folk dances of the country.

Mariana Yampolsky met other artists of her generation including Francisco Mora, Angel Bracho and Alberto Beltran who helped her learn Spanish and encouraged her to draw everything she saw in Mexico, both in Mexico City and other Mexican states.

Mariana Yampolsky worked as a curator, organizing exhibitions in Mexico and in other countries such as Sweden, Japan, and France.

Mariana Yampolsky began her work in photography in 1948, initially to record her personal travels and the activities of the Taller in the 1940s and 1950s.

Mariana Yampolsky studied photography at the San Carlos Academy with Lola Alvarez Bravo and Manuel Alvarez Bravo.

Mariana Yampolsky was a graphic arts editor for primary school textbooks, which used many reproductions of paintings, graphics, sculpture and photography.

Mariana Yampolsky played an important role in building collections of images about Mexico, such as the Wittliff collections, the largest in the United States.

Mariana Yampolsky promoted the project in Mexico and introduced the Wittliff Foundation to almost every important photographer in Mexico.

Mariana Yampolsky's work is part of the Mexican photographic tradition of documenting the complexity of Mexican culture, including the negative aspects such as poverty, disease, resignation and lack of sanitation.

Mariana Yampolsky convinced people to go about their normal lives as she photographed.

Mariana Yampolsky was recognized by the Sistema Nacional de Creadores of the Secretariat of Culture.

Mariana Yampolsky received Miguel Othon de Mendizabal Prize from INAH in 2000.

Mariana Yampolsky was honored posthumously by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in 2012 for her life's work.

The Mariana Yampolsky Foundation was founded to honor the photographer's memory and to promote her life's work.