In 1941, Álvarez started her 30 year long position as chief of photography for the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBA). Álvarez held her first solo art exhibition in 1944, at the Palacio de Bellas Artes and simultaneously curated "Pintores Jaliscienses" (Painters of Jalisco), also shown at the "Palacio" to promote the work of artists from that state. This initial show was followed by many solo and group presentations. In 1950, she rented a garage and converted it into a gallery with a sculpture garden. It officially opened the following October, as the "Galeria de Arte Contemporáneo" (Gallery of Contemporary Art). It was in this gallery in 1953, that Álvarez presented the only solo showing of Frida Kahlo's work in Mexico held while the artist was living. It was also in 1953 that Álvarez became the first woman photographer to present her work at the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana with the exhibit "México en la Vida, en la Danza, en la Muerte" (Mexico in Life, Dance, Death) and was accepted as a member of the salon. She also featured the works of Isabel Villaseñor in the "Galeria de Arte Contemporáneo" in 1954 in memory of the artist's death the previous year. Álvarez helped attend one of her closest friend's, Frida Kahlo, body after her death in the summer of 1954. In 1955, her "Entierro de Yalalag" (Burial in Yalalag), taken in 1946, was included in Museum of Modern Art's "The Family of Man" presentation in Manhattan. The exhibition subsequently toured 37 countries over the next eight years.