Sergio Larraín
Sergio Larraín Echeñique (November 5, 1931 – February 7, 2012) was a Chilean photographer. He was a member of Magnum Photos during the 1960s. He is considered the most important Chilean photographer in history, making street photography, often of street children, using "shadow and angles in a way few had tried before." Photographs he took in Paris by Notre Dame Cathedral, which revealed scenes of a couple only upon processing, became the basis for Julio Cortázar's story, "Las Babas del Diablo", "The Devil's Drool", which in turn inspired Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blowup.
Also recorded as Sergio Larrain
Sergio Larraín
- Born
- 1931. · Santiago.
- Died
- 2012. · Ovalle.
- Nationality
- Chile.
- Occupation
- photographer and painter.
- Education
- University of Michigan.
- Languages
- Spanish.
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Sergio Larraín Echeñique (November 5, 1931 – February 7, 2012) was a Chilean photographer. He was a member of Magnum Photos during the 1960s. He is considered the most important Chilean photographer in history, making street photography, often of street children, using "shadow and angles in a way few had tried before." Photographs he took in Paris by Notre Dame Cathedral, which revealed scenes of a couple only upon processing, became the basis for Julio Cortázar's story, "Las Babas del Diablo", "The Devil's Drool", which in turn inspired Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blowup.
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wikidata · Q2061104 · wikipedia · Sergio Larraín
In this article
Life and work
Life and work
Larraín was born in 1931 in Santiago, into one of Chile's wealthiest families. He joined Magnum Photos as an associate in 1959 and became a full member in 1961. He worked professionally for a little over ten years, stopping in 1972. Larraín is best known for his street photography, often of street children, "and use of shadow and angles in a way few had tried before." Following the Bolivian guru Oscar Ichazo, he retreated from public and professional life to live in a Chilean mountain village, Tulahuén, and at an even more remote refuge that he built, taking up calligraphy and meditation. He also wrote and continued to make personal photography, including that of the Chilean port of Valparaíso. He died in 2012 at the age of 80.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1931
Sergio Larraín was born on 5 November 1931.
2012
Sergio Larraín died on 7 February 2012.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Santiago.
Birth place
Ovalle.
Death place
Publications by Larraín
• Sergio Larrain: London 1958–59. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 1998.. • Expanded edition. London: Thames and Hudson, 2021.. With an introduction by Agnès Sire and an essay by Roberto Bolaño. • Sergio Larrain: Photographs by Sergio Larrain. New York: Aperture, 2013.. Edited and with text by Agnès Sire, and with an essay by Gonzalo Leiva Quijada. • Sergio Larrain: Vagabond Photographer. London: Thames & Hudson, 2013.. • Valparaiso. New York: Aperture, 2017.. With texts by Larraín, Pablo Neruda and Agnès Sire.
Collection
Collection
• Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2061104: Sergio Larraín
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Sergio Larraín”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
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authority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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