Touch of Evil

Miguel Rio Branco

1994 · Silver dye bleach print · Photographs

Rio Branco, a photographer and experimental filmmaker, has been a correspondent for the Magnum photo agency since 1980. Best known for his lush images of contemporary Latin American life, he uses color with extraordinary sensuality and expressive refinement. The caramel tones and subdued light in this photograph of the seamy underside of a tapestry evoke the gravitas of Old Master paintings, while the title and the figure's obscured features create a potent sense of mystery, an intimation of secrets that lie just below the surface.

Artist

Miguel Rio Branco

Date

1994

Medium

Silver dye bleach print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2000