Sergio Larrain

He photographed this Chilean seaport throughout his career, but it was in the early 1960s, when he returned to his homeland after traveling the world as a Magnum photographer, that it became a focus of his attention. He saw it as "a sordid yet romantic city," standing between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, falling into a slow decline as its trading importance faded away, yet still retaining hints of beauty and magic. Sergio Larrain: Valparaíso is based on a layout designed by Larrain in 1993 in response to the original French edition of 1991. It features a text by Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda, specially written for Larrain; an essay by Agnès Sire; and a selection of previously unpublished photographs taken between 1952 and 1992, expanding the original thirty-six images to a total of 120. Handwritten notes and texts by Larrain himself accompany the photographs.