Los 49, Salta

Facundo de Zuviría

1994

A color photograph printed as a silver dye–bleach print that frames a gilded storefront sign reading “Los 49” in Salta, made to attend to the geometric typography, worn gold leaf, and reflective surface of an ordinary urban detail.

What arrests the eye is the flat, metallic gold of the stylized numbers and vertical “los,” set off by sharp black outlines and a deep, mirrored background that fragments and doubles shadowy reflections behind the glass.

By isolating a piece of vernacular signage, the photograph turns everyday commercial lettering into a study of materiality and design, connecting documentary street photography to typographic history and the quiet traces of use in urban life.

Palette

Art Terms

Photography Documentary photography Street photography Vernacular photography Typography Built environment

Exhibitions

Spanish and U.S. Government Posters

1937

Some American Prints, 1949–50, from the Museum Collection

1951

Latin-American Art, 1931–1966, from the Museum Collection

1967

Techniques of Painting

1941