City Life Org – The International Center of Photography Presents Sergio Larrain: Wanderings

Sergio Larrain, Bavestrello Passage, Valparaíso, Chile, 1952 © Sergio Larrain / Magnum Photos

The International Center of Photography | 84 Ludlow Street, New York

On View October 16, 2025-January 12, 2026

Public Opening October 16, 5–8PM

The International Center of Photography (ICP) is proud to current Sergio Larrain: Wanderings, consisting of prints drawn fully from the Magnum Photos archive, the cooperative that Larrain was a member of for over fifty years. Curated by Agnès Sire, former Director of the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, the exhibition primarily highlights the work Larrain made through the first twenty years of his profession, in cities comparable to Valparaíso, Santiago, Paris and London. With examples from a lot of his most famed sequence, Wanderings gives a brand new perspective on Larrain’s ingenious and humanist images that for many years has remained little seen and infrequently exhibited.

“The terms Sergio Larrain used to describe the ‘state of grace’ necessary for ‘receiving’ a good image are mystical, as if the images were already present in the cosmos and the photographer acted as a medium,” mentioned Agnès Sire. “He was at one with stone, just as he was at one with the children of the streets, who meandered like angels appearing out of nowhere. His magnetic eye carved out fragments of reality, with no fear of what was outside the frame, of the time to come, of bold diagonals, of direct sunlight or of darkness. Neither are his pictures closed: the figures often move out of the frame, as elusive and resistant to confinement as their author.”

Structured chronologicaly and utilizing Larrain’s personal writings as a information, Wanderings appears at each the fabric and non secular drama of rural and concrete life whereas additionally charting the refined evolution of Larrain’s type. The pictures he made in 1957 of the fishing neighborhood on Chiloé Island off the coast of Chile would prefigure a lot of his coming sequence, with their consideration to the plight and circumstances of kids and the psychological pressure to be present in even commonplace scenes. That similar 12 months, the youngsters of Santiago, Chile had been the topic of Larrain’s first main physique of labor, leading to pictures that look unflinchingly on the materials hardship of those kids whereas additionally discovering moments of levity and shock. In these pictures the circumstances of poverty are proven vividly although with out sentimentality, as Larrain sought to make clear their scenario with out valorizing their experiences.

Larrain later relocated to Paris for some time and traveled extensively all through Europe whereas reporting for Magnum Photos, of which he turned a ful member in 1961. His pictures from Paris and London reveal a eager curiosity in weird and sudden mixtures of structure and humanity, leading to new and virtually surreal compositions inside these quickly altering cities. Upon returning to his native Chile, Larrain accomplished his seminal physique of labor titled Valparaíso, which depicted the feel and ambiance of city house overcome with battle, with particular consideration paid to kids who appear to wander the streets as a lot as they navigate them. In pictures of dramaticaly compressed house and staggered, tense compositions, Larrain’s kaleidoscopic portrait of town itself, from its nightlife to its structure, has confirmed to be an everlasting assertion on the conflict between historical past and modernity.

As Larrain labored in and reported from international locations all through South America within the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, his pictures continued to point out figures immune to being mounted throughout the body, continually in movement and in flux, a mirrored image of his personal type and the social character of the international locations themselves. This unsettled and fleeting high quality is repeatedly set towards dynamic views of structure and the constructed atmosphere, reflecting the friction between inside reality and exterior pressures. Writing about his work and the impact that images can have, Larrain wrote: “Iwant the photographs I make to be an immediate experience and not one that is chewed over. I understood that photography, like every other form of artistic expression, is something that you have to seek deep inside yourself. The perfect photograph is a kind of miracle that appears in a blaze of light—subject, shapes and perfect mood; you press the button almost by chance and the miracle happens.”

David Campany, Creative Director at ICP, mentioned, “Shining a light on great but overlooked photographers is an important part of what we do at ICP, so it is with tremendous excitement that we are bringing Sergio Larrain’s truly exceptional pictures to new audiences.”

About Sergio Larrain

Sergio Larrain, born in 1931 in Santiago right into a Chilean household wealthy in artwork and tradition, studied forestry at University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan. He turned a contract photographer, labored for O Cruzeiro journal, and acquired a British Council scholarship in 1958. He joined Magnum Photos a 12 months later after assembly Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris. Larrain’s notable sequence embody Vagabond Children (1957), London (1958–59), and Valparaíso (1952–62). In 1963, he revealed his first e book, El rectangulo en lamano. Later in life, he colaborated with Pablo Neruda on his e book Una casa en la Arena, with Neruda additionally contributing texts to Larrain’s books about Valparaíso. Larrain handed away in 2012 at his residence in Tulahuén, Chile.

About Agnès Sire

After a grasp in philosophy and aesthetics, Agnès Sire labored at Alexandre Lolas Galery in Paris earlier than becoming a member of the group of the Magnum Photos Paris workplace. She labored there as creative director for 20 years and co-authored a number of colective Magnum initiatives comparable to Magnum Cinema and Behind the Iron Curtain. She additionally oversaw the publication of varied photographers’ books, comparable to Henri Cartier-Bresson: Mexican Notebooks 1934-1964 and Valparaíso and London by Sergio Larrain.

She taught for 2 years at Sorbonne University and in 2004 she turned director of Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris. For 15 years, she was the curator of a lot of the 45 exhibitions offered there and contributed extensively to the creation of this Institution along with Martine Franck.

Exhibition Support

Exhibition organized in collaboration with Magnum Photos.

Exhibitions at ICP are supported, partly, by Caryl Englander, Almudena Legorreta, ICP Board of Trustees, and Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the help of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

About The International Center of Photography

The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world’s main establishment devoted to images and visible tradition. Cornell Capa based ICP in 1974 to champion “concerned photography”—socially and politically minded photographs that may educate and alter the world. Through exhibitions, teaching programs, neighborhood outreach, and public packages, ICP provides an open discussion board for dialogue in regards to the energy of the picture. Since its inception, ICP has offered greater than 700 exhibitions, supplied 1000’s of lessons, and hosted all kinds of public packages. ICP launched its new built-in middle at 84 Ludlow Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in January 2020. ICP pays respect to the unique stewards of this land, the Lenape individuals, and different Indigenous communities. Visit icp.org to study extra in regards to the museum and its packages.