Enrique Metinides
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Enrique Metinides (1934 – 2022) was a Mexican photojournalist working for the nota roja tabloids, producing pictures of murders and accidents such as "Adela Legarreta Rivas is struck by a white Datsun on Avenida Chapultepec, Mexico City, 29 April 1979" (1979).
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Metinides is known for his stark and often grisly depictions of life in Mexico City. He began working with photography as a child when his father gave him a camera. Soon he began taking photos imitating popular action movies and car crashes near his father’s restaurant.
He published his first photo in a newspaper when he was twelve and at age thirteen, became an unpaid assistant at La Prensa. His career as a crime photographer continued until 1997 when he retired, but since then his work has gained appreciation on its own merits, being exhibited in galleries and other venues in Mexico, the United States, and Europe.
He worked as a photographer from 1949 to 1979 as part of the "Nota Roja" (or "bloody news"), shooting arresting photos of crime, murder, suicides, airplane crashes and other disasters for Mexico City tabloids.
He is sometimes compared to the American photographer Weegee for his stark depictions of the harsh realities of urban life.
Early life
Enrique Metinides was born to a family of Greek immigrants in Mexico City on February 12, 1934. He published his first photo at the age of twelve, earning him the nickname "El Niño" ("the boy'). A year later, he became an unpaid intern under the crime reporter for the tabloid newspaper La Prensa, beginning a prolific five decade career in photography.
Photography career
Metinides began his career shooting photos of crime and disaster for La Prensa. Over the course of his life, he shot thousands of photos and was published in La Prensa, Alarma and Crimen.
His work has been shown in numerous galleries, including La Casa de América, Madrid, Spain; Central de Arte Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico; The Photographers Gallery, London, United Kingdom and the Anton Kern Gallery, New York,
Exhibitions
Other photos and works by the photographer have been the focus of individual exhibits at locations such as the Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York (2008), the Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2006), Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2006), Club Fotográfico de México, Mexico City (2005), Kunsthal, Rotterdam (2004), The Photographer’s Gallery, London (2003), Air de Paris, Paris (2003), the Royal College, London (2002, 2003), Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte UNAM, Mexico City (2000). Important collective exhibitions include those at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto (2012), SFMOMA, San Francisco (2012), Kominek Gallery, Berlin (2012), Museum of Modern Art, New York (2008), NRW Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf (2006), Center for Contemporary Art, Antwerp (2004), Casa de América, Madrid (2004), Central de Arte Guadalajara, Guadalajara (2004), Galerie Cantal Crousel, Paris (2002), Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2002), PS1, New York (2002) and Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City (2002) .
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