Mexico City-native, Agustin Victor Casasola (1874-1928) was a photographer, cofounder of the Mexican Association of Press Photographers, and correspondent for the El Imparicial newspaper, an official newspaper of Porfirio Díaz’s regime.
General Lisandro Barillas, the former president of Guatemala, was assassinated in 1907. The assassins were to be executed in Belen Prison by firing squad. Casasola wanted to witness the execution, but all coverage was prohibited. To get the photos, he climbed up a telephone pole, from which he could shoot over the prison wall.
Casasola turned his camera to the people during the Mexican Revolution of 1910. He had been permitted to show only the elite and cheering crowds for years. He understood that photojournalism could show the people what was going on. As Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada (1851 – 1913) could parody the great and good with his Calaveras, Casasola’s photographs could depict an inherent truth.
He founded the Graphic Information Agency in 1911. The agency sold the work of 483 photographers at its height. This resulted in a significant archive for Mexico. It is difficult to tell which Cassola’s photos were taken with him and which were taken by others, such as his younger brother.
