Manuel Alvarez Bravo was born in Mexico City, Mexico on February 4, 1902.  He began photographing in 1924 under the tutelage of German photographer, Hugo Brehme. In 1925 he married Lola Alvarez Bravo and moved to Oaxaca.

In the latter half of the 1920's Bravo became acquainted with Diego Rivera and through him, with Tina Modotti. It was at Modotti's suggestion that Bravo first showed his work to Edward Weston.  Meeting these artists and becoming involved in the social and political climate of post-revolutionary Mexico undoubtedly had an effect on the images Bravo was creating.  When Tina Modotti was deported from Mexico in 1930, Bravo took over her position as photographer for the magazine Mexican Folkways.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo co-founded the Fondo Editorial de la Plastica Mexicana, an organization dedicated to books on Mexican art. He has exhibited at numerous locations throughout the world including The Museo de San Carlos, Mexico City, The Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., The Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Chicago Art Institute, to name only a few.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo passed away in Mexico City in 2001.