Anton BRUEHL
Australia 1900 – United States of America 1982
United States from 1919

Peanuts and oranges, Mexico City 1932
gelatin silver photograph
image 34.4 (h) x 26.9 (w) cm
Gift of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Inc., New York, NY, USA, made possible with the generous support of Anton Bruehl Jr, 2006.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
NGA 2006.69

In 1980, along with Mulero, the market vendor with his artfully arranged wares was bought by the great Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo, a contemporary of Bruehl’s, from The Witkin Gallery in New York for a new museum collection in Mexico City. Bruehl received a letter from the gallery to inform him of the sale: ‘Manuel particularly admired the image of the Vendor as a matter of fact, he raved about it’, they wrote, ‘The compliment coming from one of the greatest living Mexican photographers should not be thrown out to the … surf!!!’ The praise is a fitting tribute at the end of his life to his Mexican achievement.