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The 'Image-maker'

Documentary captures achievements of photographer Pedro Guerrero

Like most professional photographers, Pedro Guerrero has lived a life behind the viewfinder, unheralded and almost anonymous. Yet almost anyone who has read a magazine or book, or visited a museum during the past half century has probably seen his photos.

He is truly a man who was known by the company he kept. Guerrero photographed the work and lives of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, sculptor Alexander Calder and artist Louise Nevelson. Together they comprise a triptych of some of the most acclaimed and influential Americans of our time.

Moreover, there are some who believe that Guerrero has achieved a certain fame in his own right.

Cave Creek film producer Suzanne Johnson is putting the finishing touches on a documentary, Pedro E. Guerrero, Portrait of an Image-maker, that celebrates the life and accomplishments of the Arizona photographer.

Her company, Gnosis, should complete the project in early spring, Johnson says. The film debuts March 31 at Taliesin West, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Johnson also is offering the film to schools and nonprofits that are searching for Latino role models (for more information, contact her at www.gnossisltd.org).

Johnson says she made the film because "we believe the life and work of Guerrero speaks of a heritage that transcends geographical boundaries and carries a message for larger, multicultural audiences."

"Mr. Guerrero is an Arizona jewel; a remarkable man with great integrity who has led a rich, productive life," she adds.

Although Guerrero downplays his achievements, in some ways he can lay claim to being an American Master in the mold of Annie Leibovitz, whose photos of celebrities are considered fine art. Guerrero says that his portraits of the big three and his studies of the artists' works were unobtrusive, unadorned and never abstract.

"When shooting for Wright, or Calder, or Nevelson, I always kept in mind that I'm not a creator. I'm like a violinist, interpreting someone else's music," he once said.

Guerrero was born in Casa Grande in 1917 into a family headed by his father, Pedro Sr., and his mother, Rosalva. His father found success as the founder of a sign-painting company in Mesa, where the family moved to and Pedro grew up.

Guerrero says his early childhood experience in Mesa's then-segregated school system in 1925 affected his future life and choice of career.

There, prejudice and discrimination against him and other Mexican Americans led him to leave home at age 20 to attend the Art Center School in Los Angeles, where he studied photography.

"Bigotry has its advantages," he says. "I left because I didn't see much opportunity for me in Mesa."

In 1939, Guerrero met with Wright. Their first meeting lasted 15 minutes, Guerrero recalls, but it was the spark of a close relationship in which the Arizonan became the great architect's photographer until Wright's death in 1959.

Guerrero remembers Wright as "arrogant, but a kind and generous man. I thought he was God."

After serving in WWII, Guerrero moved to New York City, where he shot assignments for Redbook, Harper's Bazaar, and House & Garden, prestigious magazines of that era. He moved his family to New Canaan, Conn., in 1951. It was while living there he met artists Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson.

Guerrero soon forged a highly personalized alliance to each.

"These people had invented their own images," Guerrero says. "Wright was an aristocrat, formal and starched collar. Calder was a blacksmith, with his rough ways with his overalls. Nevelson was a butterfly, with her head always covered by a scarf and layers of flamboyant clothes."

Guerrero says he developed his documentary style after Wright admonished him, "Don't use my architecture as your art!"

However, Johnson says her documentary showcases Pedro's personal photography style.

"Like all great photographers, Guerrero's mastery of his craft entails a strong eye for composition and a response to light, as well as an informative vision."

Jean Lipman, another friend of Guerrero's and editor of Art in America journal for 30 years, described his photos as "warm and living" because of the cameraman's personal relationship with each artist.

Guerrero's photographs have been exhibited at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and the Guggenheim Museum, among others. Sixty of his Wright photos are on permanent display at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison, Wis. One of his Calder portraits was featured on a U.S. postage stamp series. And Guerrero's body of work has formed the basis of published books on each of this three subjects.

Now 90 years old and living in Florence, Ariz., Guerrero says he is publishing his memoirs in a book. In addition, he is searching for an art or educational institution to buy and archive his entire collection of photos.

"It wasn't until after I retired that I realized how adventuresome it all was," Guerrero says. "It's been a glorious life."