ARMANDO HERRERA

Armando Herrera was a famous portrait photographer who created a unique style in 20th Century Mexico. He began his photographic career in 1932 and retired in 1997.

Throughout more han six decades he was known as “El fotógrafo de las estrellas” (The Photographer of the Stars) and the most important showbiz personalities of his time came to his studio. Hundreds of movie and theater actors, singers, dancers, musicians, composers, radio announcers and other talented artists posed in front of his camera and he immortalized them.

The so-called Golden Age in Mexican cinema was the period between 1936 and 1959, when our movie industry reached an important level of quality in its productions and also achieved great international recognition. In Mexico, just like in Hollywood, a new “cult of the actor” developed and fostered the rise of wonderful artists that became true idols. Many of those stars had a light of their own and crossed over into many different genres besides movies.

“Armando Herrera worked on the pinnacle of the idol image-making industry. His photos rapidly reached the level of a ‘must’… The actors, actresses, singers and musicians that demanded the work of Herrera all knew that a portrait from ‘el fotógrafo de las estrellas’ would give them a head start.”

Carlos Monsivais.