Larrain’s Valparaíso and Los Abandonados

“A good image is created by a state of grace,” Sergio Larrain once wrote. “Grace expresses itself when it has been freed from conventions, free like a child in his early discovery of reality.”

This fall, from September 18 to December 21, Magnum’s Gallery in central Paris presents a selection of more than 40 vintage and early gelatin silver prints by the Chilean photographer. The exhibition is curated by Agnès Sire, co-founder and longtime Director of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, as well as a frequent correspondent and collaborator with Larrain during her 20 years at Magnum Photos.

The exhibition, drawing from his work in Valparaíso and of children abandoned to the streets, invites viewers to take up the perspective of a reclusive visionary whose photography, at once experimental and meditative, remains as awe-striking today as when it was first printed — if not more. While some images may be familiar, these rare prints have never before been exhibited.

Despite a relatively short professional photography career, Larrain’s outsized and enduring impact on the photographic community can be traced largely to these two series from the 1950s and ‘60s. Renowned for producing thoughtful, poetic images rooted in an abiding humanism, Larrain’s legacy is perhaps distinguished most by his profound ability to capture the ineffable time and time again.

Many of Larrain’s most recognizable images were shot in his home country, particularly in Valparaíso, a port city in Chile. The eponymously titled book, not published until 1991, emerged from work started in 1957 when the photographer was traveling for a magazine story alongside the esteemed poet Pablo Neruda. An expanded version of the Valparaíso will be released in September of this year by Atelier EXB, along with a biographical book titled The Lost Photo by Catalina Mena.

In Valparaíso, Larrain continued experimenting with unique vantage points and unconventional framing, simultaneously establishing and expanding his visual vocabulary. From architecture and street scenes to nightlife with dancers and sailors, uncanny beauty seems to permeate each frame. 

While intimately connected, his preceding work had focused on children who were abandoned on the streets of Santiago and elsewhere. Upon seeing these photographs, Henri Cartier-Bresson, whom Larrain admired and later counted as a mentor, invited him to join Magnum Photos. Larrain joined, but not long after retreated from media work and professional photography altogether, immersing himself in artistic and spiritual practices in the mountains of Chile.

Agnès Sire remarks: “From a very early age, Valparaíso, after [his work photographing] the street children, was the photographer’s almost womb-like environment. Every stone, every staircase, every sailor, every shadow and every bar became an inseparable part of the vocabulary of the great poem he wanted to write.”

“Valparaíso — Los Abandonados” features more than 40 black-and-white prints, all made during Larrain’s lifetime, many very close to the time the photographs were taken. 

The exhibition runs at Magnum Gallery (68 rue Léon Frot, Paris 75011) from September 18 to December 21. Plan your visit here. 

Most works exhibited are available to acquire. For inquiries, please contact gallery@magnumphotos.com