Figueroa's vision of nature is like a beautiful though carnivorous orchid...One doesn't film the most photogenic country in the world...unless there is a willingness to...distort it, recreate it; adding, in a certain way, a critical margin to its own beauty."-Carlos Fuentes The cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa was one of the true auteurs of Mexican cinema. Figueroa's rich chiaroscuro captured in deep focus Mexico's entrenched contrasts-its everyday folkloric splendor, or the timeless haunting of a barren tree, dark against a ranging sky. The painters Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco were Figueroa's intimates and their influence can be detected in what Siqueiros called "murals that travel." He was the "eyes" of the great Mexican director Emilio "El Indio" Fernández and he was also the man who gave form to Luis Buñuel's wicked humor, simply by exerting his unflinching eye for detail. Figueroa apprenticed to Gregg Toland, and was admired by American directors such as John Huston, John Ford, and Clint Eastwood, who all used his signature style differently. He cut a dashing figure but his social conscience preceded him, as when he refused to work in Franco's Spain when others blithely did so, or when he was a friend abroad to Hollywood's blacklistees. Gabriel Figueroa's death in April inspired us to remember his gift to world cinema in a small tribute, presented on Friday evenings in September-just a tip of the hat to a sublime artist, and a buen hombre. This project is made possible through the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Museum Collections Accessibility Initiative.Our series title is borrowed from a Gabriel Figueroa obituary in Sight and Sound titled "Buñuel's Eyes." Friday September 5, 1997
