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Max T. Vargas

Arequipa, Peru, and La Paz, Bolivia (Photographer)

Max (Maximiliano) T. Vargas (18741959), born in Arequipa, Peru, began his carrier as a professional photographer in 1896. Vargas went to the Bolivian highlands to photograph people, landscapes, and archaeological sites. He worked in the city of La Paz before the end of the nineteenth century and created editions of postcards that bear the inscription: Edicion propria de Max T. Vargas ("own edition of Max T. Vargas"), Arequipa & La Paz. Because of these postcards, Vargas is considered the initiator of documentary photography in Peru and Bolivia. His postcards were printed in Germany.

Max T. Vargas Credit Line
Max T. Vargas Credit Line


References:

Annika Buchholz, “Fotografie ohne Grenzen: Max T. Vargas’ Einfluss als Studiofotograf, Künstler und Unternehmer im südlichen Peru,” in Forscher und Unternehmer mit Kamera: Geschichten von Bildern und Fotografen aus der Fotothek des Ibero-Amerikanischen Instituts, ed. Gregor Wolff (Berlin: Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, 2014), 126–35.

Jorge Villacorta Chávez and Andrés Garay Albújar, Emilio Díaz y Max T. Vargas: Los orígenes de la fotografía en Arequipa y en el sur andino peruano (Lima, Peru: Instituto Peruano de Arte y Diseño, 2007).