- Tina Modotti
Sheet: 9 5/8 × 7 1/2 in. (24.4 × 19.1 cm)
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In the mid-1920s, Edward Weston developed a visual language of reduced simplicity and formal abstraction, focusing his lens on shells, vegetables, rocks, portraits, and nudes, transforming a given form into a set of lines, curves, and volumes. The human subjects of his photographs, more often than not, were his lovers and protégés, women for whom he felt both personal and professional attraction. Weston met Tina Modotti about 1920, and the silent film actress soon became his favored muse. In 1923 the two moved to Mexico, where Modotti developed a passion for photography as well.
Weston sensitively captured the subtle transformations of Modotti’s expressive face: “We had long planned that I should do her as I have often seen her, quoting poetry—to attempt the registration of her remarkably mobile face in action.” Her dark clothes merge into the background so that her face stands out as the radiant center of soft, circling forms, a portrait in arrested motion rendering the psychological essence of its subject.
Provenance[Daniel Wolf, Inc., New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1978.
Exhibition HistoryExhibited: "Edward Weston in Mexico," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, May 6 - July 1 1983 (LN:83.8)
Loaned to San Antonio Museum of Art for "American Photography: A History in Pictures," from April 21 to July 31, 1994 (LN:94.24).
Exhibited "Evocative Presence: Twentieth Century Photographs in the Museum Collection", The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston February 27 - May 1, 1988
Exhibited "Graphic Art from Mexico", December 17, 1995 through February 25, 1996, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Exhibited: "A Love Affair with Pictures: 25 Years of Collecting Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," MFAH, Lower Jones and Masterson Galleries, October 14 - December 30, 2001.
Exhibited, "Platinum Photographs; 1880s to 1920s", The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Lower Brown Corridor, May 24, 2004 - September 19, 2004.
Exhibited "Target Collection of American Photography: A Century in Pictures",
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston December 3 - February 25, 2007
Austin Museum of Art May 19 - August 12, 2007
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