Elegant beauty: Tina Modotti and her radical photographs
The photographs of the Italian photographer Tina Modotti were avant-garde in the 1920s. She was also ahead of her time in life.
Famous roses
This photograph of a bunch of roses is probably the most famous picture by Italian photographer Tina Modotti. A detail shot in black and white, the picture's cropping seems random. An image of timeless beauty, the photo which is probably from 1924, clearly reflects Modotti's revolutionary style of photography. She died 80 years ago, on January 6, 1942, aged only 45.
Like a backdrop
Unusual angles, clean lines, no people. The photograph of the scaffolding at the Mexico City stadium was as modern in its simplicity as it was radical in the photography of the 1920s. Born in Udine, Italy in 1896, Modotti came from a poor family and had emigrated to the United States when she was 17, where she worked as a seamstress and actress.
Not just people-free photos
Modotti photographed these construction workers at the Mexico City stadium, probably in 1927. The lives of ordinary, disadvantaged people were also a central motif in Modotti's work. She first traveled to Mexico in 1922 — together with her lover, the famous US photographer Edward Weston (1886-1958), who taught her the basics of modernist photography.
Talented beauty
In 1923, Modotti and Weston moved to Mexico together and worked in their shared studio. The couple became part of the cultural and social movement that changed the country since the Mexican Revolution in 1910. The young Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera counted among their friends. Modotti became a photographer for Rivera's murals and posed for him herself.
Edward Weston: teacher, partner, friend
Influential US photographer Edward Weston left his family to live with Modotti for a few years. He returned to the United States in 1926. According to biographer Margaret Hooks, Modotti's most productive period began thereafter, as she went on to create some of her most famous images. Modotti remained friends with Weston until she devoted herself entirely to political work in Moscow.
Mexican worker with 'El Machete' newspaper
The reading worker is one of Modotti's most famous shots, probably taken during this prolific period. According to her biographer Hooks, the photos for "El Machete" were an integral part of Modotti's work. She also photographed Mexican folk art for coffee table books and documentaries. In addition to their simple beauty, the images of Mexican workers usually have a political component.
Hammer, sickle and sombrero
These three symbols represented the life and movement of Mexican farm workers in the 1920s. Modotti combined modern aesthetics and political content in this famous photograph. Hailing from a poor family herself, Modotti was already concerned as a young woman with issues of social injustice and with the lives of disadvantaged people.
A sought-after photographer
The versatile photographer earned her money with her portraits for the rich Mexican upper class. It was fashionable to pose in front of her camera and have her pose for them. Here for instance is a portrait that Modotti shot of Maria Marin de Orozco, sister-in-law of Diego Rivera.
Modotti the communist
In 1927, Modotti joined the Mexican Communist Party, that had close relations with the Soviet Union (USSR). This picture was taken by Modotti at a reception for the Mexican party members at the Soviet embassy in Mexico City. After Modotti was expelled from Mexico in 1930, she worked only politically for the Communist Party of Moscow.
Women and children as subjects
Modotti repeatedly photographed the intimate subject of the baby at the breast, which was an unusual one for the 1920s and 1930s. In 1928, the artist began having a relationship with exiled Cuban revolutionary Julio Antonio Mella. He was however shot dead the next year, while walking beside her on the street.
Mexican woman at work
Mella's murder trial was used by the judiciary to discredit Modotti — with her political activities and private life being branded as immoral. Modotti traveled to Tehuantepec, a narrow strip of land between Central and North America, and photographed mainly women and children going about their daily lives.
Return to Europe
In 1930, Modotti was expelled from her adopted country Mexico for political reasons. Barred as a communist from entering the US, she sailed to Europe instead. She could not return to her native Italy, that had become increasingly fascist. Thus, she stayed in Berlin for a few months. This is a photo she took at the Berlin Zoo.
Turning away from photography
In 1930, Modotti followed the Italian Communist Vittorio Vidali to Moscow. There he worked for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. From then on, Modotti too worked only for the party of the dictator Stalin. She ended her career as a photographer. Earlier photographs, such as the woman with flag, continued to be printed, as on the cover of the German A-I-Z (Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung).
Traveling on behalf of Moscow
From Moscow, Modotti and her lover Vidali were sent to Paris, and later to Spain. Here, using false names, the two supported the Republican Brigades against fascist dictator Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Later, Modotti traveled back to Mexico under an assumed name. She no longer took photos like this picture of the convent of Tepotzotlan, dated around 1924.
Early death, distinctive photos
From 1939 to 1942, Modotti lived in seclusion in Mexico, with little money or contact with old friends, and under an alias as she was in the country illegally. On January 6, 1942, she died of heart failure in a cab at the age of 45. Her friend Pablo Neruda wrote a poem about the loss. Her distinctive shots, like the one here of calla lilies, were exhibited as early as March 1942 in Mexico City.