sought to imbue her subject with symbolic content.
Roses(1924), for example, is a tightly constructed
near abstraction of four white roses that also func-
tions as amomento mori, suggesting the transitory
nature of life. Modotti’s architectural studies from
this period are marked for their complicated spatial
configurations and delicate tonal gradations. In
1925, Modotti began to photograph outdoors,
and herTelephone Wires(1925) marks a change in
her work, in which now distinctive modernist ele-
ments are evident. In keeping with New Vision
aesthetic, she often approached her subjects from
novel, extreme vantage points and photographed
machine-age subject matter, the result being an
abstracting of space and form. And like many poli-
tical artists of the day, Modotti consciously
brought a social element to her work.
In 1927, Modotti officially joined the Communist
Party, already populated by many of her Mexican
friends and colleagues, among them, Frida Kahlo,
Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros, who contributed
their artistic skills in the service of the cause, believ-
ing that art could be the catalyst for social and
political change. Modotti’s strongest images from
this period includecampesinos (peasant farmers)
andobreros(workers) engaged in protest or in man-
ual labor, as inWorkers Parade(1926) andTank
No. 1(1927). For her, images of workers expressed
both the humanity of the people and the heart of the
Communist movement. She also returned to still life
in 1927, and she made a series of ‘‘revolutionary
icons,’’ careful arrangements of a guitar, a bando-
lier, a dried ear of corn, and a sickle, for example,
Bandolier, Guitar, Sickle(1927).
The receptivity to public art fostered in post-
Revolutionary Mexico in the early 1920s began to
diminish toward the end of the decade as govern-
ment policies turned more conservative. Modotti’s
subject matter was seen as provocative, if not
inflammatory.Workers ReadingEl Machete (1927),
for example, was a potent reminder that the Revo-
lution’s promise of universal literacy for the lower
and working classes, many of whom were of
Indian decent, was as yet unfulfilled. In this
tightly composed image of two young obreros
reading the Communist organ, Modotti adroitly
illustrates the strategy of activist participation in
changing the conditions of the underprivileged.
But while Modotti herself was conscious of
photographing with a ‘‘class eye,’’ she was equally
concerned about making photographs that met the
criteria she learned from Weston. She made two
series in 1929 that demonstrate this point:Woman
from Tehuantepec, (1929) andHands of the Puppet-
eer, (1929). Her heroic heads of the women of
Tehuantepec, who control the political life of the
region, are emblematic without being ethnographic.
And when she made images of a puppeteer’s hands,
the tight cropping and straight-on frontality contri-
bute to the powerful metaphor: those in power
control and manipulate those without.
In December 1929, Modotti’s work was exhib-
ited in a solo exhibition that was well received. Her
love affair with Julio Antonio Mella, founder of
Cuban Communist Party who was gunned down in
her company, and her involvement with radical
politics (she was accused of plotting the assassina-
tion of President Pascual Ortiz Rubio) caused her
to be deported from Mexico as an undesirable alien
in 1930. Her photography career ended, and over
the next 12 years she traveled to Moscow, Paris,
and Spain in the service of the International Red
Aid. Modotti returned to Mexico in 1939 and died
at the age of 45 three years later.
SarahM. Lowe
Seealso:History of Photography: Interwar Years;
Modernism; Photography in Mexico; Weston,
Edward; Worker PhotographyBiography
Born Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini in Udine,
Italy 16 August 1896. Minimal formal education as a
child; emigrated to San Francisco, California to join her
father in 1913. Moved to Los Angeles with common-law
husband, artist Roubaix (Robo) de l’Abrie Richey, in
1918; he died in 1922. Moved to Mexico City with
Edward Weston, who taught her photography, 1923.
Exhibited with Weston in Mexico until his departure,- Produced hundreds of copy prints of the Mexican
Mural movement; published photographs in dozens of
international journals, magazines, and periodicals.
Joined the Mexican Communist Party, 1927. Romanti-
cally involved with Julio Antonio Mella, founder of
Cuban Communist Party, 1928. Accused of his murder
and acquitted, 1929; expelled from Mexico as an unde-
sirable alien, 1930. Moved to Germany, 1930 and then
Moscow, 1931. Gave up photography and worked for
the International Red Aid in Russia 1931–1934, in
France, and in Spain during the Spanish Civil War,
1935–1939. Returned to Mexico with Italian Communist
Vittorio Vidali, 1939. Died Mexico City, 6 January 1942.
Selected Individual and Two-Person Exhibition
1924 Aztec Land Shop; Mexico City, (with Edward Weston)
1925 Museo del Estado; Guadalajara, Mexico, (with
Edward Weston)
1926 Sal de Arte; Mexico City, (with Edward Weston)
1929 Universidad Nacional Automoma de Me ́xico, Biblio-
teca Nacional; Mexico City
1942 Expositı ́on de fotografı ́a: Tina Modotti, (Memorial
exhibition); Galerı ́a de Arte Mexicana; Mexico CityMODOTTI, TINA