Mexico, Lake Patzcuaro, Fishernets

Max Pollak

Lake Patzcuaro sits alongside the town of the same name, located in the state Michoacan. It is central to the town's culture and economy, once having been the largest source for butterfly-net fishing, as shown in this image. The lake is no longer fished, however, it has become a popular destination for tourism.

Max Pollak was born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Vienna, Austria. A printmaker with a long and productive career, his intaglio subjects included genre, land and cityscapes, and portraits from throughout Europe, the Holy Land, the United States, and Latin America.

In the early 1940s, the Pollaks traveled throughout Mexico and Latin America where Max recorded the everyday life of the residents and the architecture and landscapes of the regions, often using his favorite medium, etching and aquatint, the color for which he generally applied 'a la poupée.'