About this Work
About the Artist
Italian, American, Mexican
b: 1896 Udine, Italy
d: 1942 Mexico City, MexicoTina Modotti was born in Udine, Friuli, and at the age of 16 immigrated to San Francisco. In her youth, Modotti became a fixture in the Bay Area arts community. She was an actress in plays and silent films and an artists’ model. She began her career as a photographer after becoming the favored model of photographer Edward Weston. The two quickly became a couple and eventually moved to Mexico City where Modotti became immersed in politics and joined the Mexican Communist Party in 1927. She soon became the photographer of choice within the emerging Mexican mural movement. In 1929, Modotti showed her first one-woman exhibition that was described as “Revolutionary Photography” given the socialistic subject matter of peasants and workers. Because of Modotti’s outspoken political participation, she was eventually forced to go back to Europe and did not return to Mexico City until 1939 under a pseudonym. Modotti died there in 1942. Though her career as a photographer only spanned about nine years, Modotti left behind a very important body of work.
b: 1896 Udine, Italy
d: 1942 Mexico City, MexicoTina Modotti was born in Udine, Friuli, and at the age of 16 immigrated to San Francisco. In her youth, Modotti became a fixture in the Bay Area arts community. She was an actress in plays and silent films and an artists’ model. She began her career as a photographer after becoming the favored model of photographer Edward Weston. The two quickly became a couple and eventually moved to Mexico City where Modotti became immersed in politics and joined the Mexican Communist Party in 1927. She soon became the photographer of choice within the emerging Mexican mural movement. In 1929, Modotti showed her first one-woman exhibition that was described as “Revolutionary Photography” given the socialistic subject matter of peasants and workers. Because of Modotti’s outspoken political participation, she was eventually forced to go back to Europe and did not return to Mexico City until 1939 under a pseudonym. Modotti died there in 1942. Though her career as a photographer only spanned about nine years, Modotti left behind a very important body of work.
