Mexico

Helen Levitt was already becoming known for her photographs of working–class children at play in the streets and empty lots of New York City when she made a trip to Mexico City in the summer of 1941. Unlike other photographers who had taken inspiration from Mexico—such as Tina Modotti, Paul Strand, and Edward Weston—Levitt made no contact with local artistic circles and did not document political slogans, native culture, or Mexican landmarks; rather, as in her previous work, she focused on the gestures of people in the street. This photograph is one of a sequence of three showing children playing in a crumbling road; this one emphasizes the accidental violence of a contorted pose.