Mariana Yampolsky, 76; Photographed Daily Life of Mexico’s Indians
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Mariana Yampolsky, 76, a photographer known for her pictures of Mexico’s Indian population, died Friday in Mexico City of an internal hemorrhage caused by a cancerous tumor.
Born in Chicago to a Russian father and German mother, she earned a bachelor’s degree in arts and humanities from the University of Chicago. In 1944, she moved to Mexico to study at the La Esmeralda school of painting and sculpture.
Yampolsky became interested in photography while working as an engraver at the Graphica Popular studio, founded in Mexico in the 1940s by artists who produced for the masses.
Her photos, found in museums around the world, often featured the daily life of Mexico’s Indians. She dismissed criticism for not expanding into other themes, and often said: “If you love a people, a country, you also love everything about being human.”
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