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117
MODOTTI, TINA (1896-1942)
Untitled [Coconut tree climber]. Silver print, 3 1/ 8x2 1/ 8 inches (7.9x5.4 cm.), signed by Modotti, in ink, on recto; with Modotti's typed initials, and an illegible title and "Colima, Col." in an unidentified hand, in pencil, on verso. 1925
- Notes: from the collection of anita brenner, who hired Modotti to document Mexican murals, paintings, and folk art for her illustrated book idols behind altars (New York, 1929). Tina Modotti was a Hollywood actress and political activist who took up fine art photography upon meeting and falling in love with Edward Weston. Her work merges a refined sense of photographic representation with a sensitivity to proletarian culture. After leaving California, in 1922, she and Weston resettled in Mexico, where each felt a deep affinity for the people and native art. This picture was made in Guadalajara, Mexico while Modotti awaited the opening of her second exhibition--a group show in which works by David Siqueiros, Javier Guerrero, and Orozco Marins would also be on display--and Weston's return. In a letter to Brenner, dated 24 August 1925, she characterized the photograph as an "amateur photograph," alluding to its snapshot-like qualities. An accomplished fine artist who mastered photography Modotti would ultimately reject fine art aesthetic for the snapshot's casual style. As her biographer Margaret Hooks notes, "after the success of her photographic abstractions Modotti abandoned the formal idiom for a vernacular style, which she characterized as a 'perfect snapshot'." For Modotti "the moving qualities of life rather than still studies" constituted the ideal photograph.
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October 21, 2003 12:00 AM EDT
New York, NY, US
Swann Auction Galleries
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