Modotti, Tina

Modotti, Tina

▪ Italian photographer
original name  Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti 
born Aug. 16, 1896, Udine, Italy
died Jan. 6, 1942, Mexico City, Mex.

      photographer who was noted for her symbolic close-ups and images of art works by Mexican painters.

      Modotti worked in a textile factory in Udine before joining her father in 1913 in San Francisco. There her beauty and interest in the theatre led to acting jobs on the stage. In 1917 she married the American painter and poet Roubaix de l'Abrie Richey (known as Robo). They moved to Hollywood, where between 1920 and 1922 she acted in three silent films, and became part of a circle of West Coast artists and writers. Early in 1921 Modotti met the photographer Edward Weston (Weston, Edward), with whom she formed a romantic relationship that eventually led her to become a photographer herself.

      When Weston moved to Mexico City in 1923, Modotti became first his assistant and apprentice and eventually his partner in a joint photographic enterprise. The close-up vantage points and lack of context in her early work attest to the influence of Weston and his emphasis on “the thing itself,” but, as Modotti gained experience, her images took on a personal character. She stayed in Mexico when Weston returned to California in 1926. Politics was of longstanding interest to her, and, after she joined the Mexican Communist Party, she began to create symbolic images relating to leftist political ideology, such as Mexican Sombrero with Hammer and Sickle (1927). She documented on her own the work of Mexico's leading muralists, and with Weston she produced photographs for Anita Brenner's book on Mexican art, Idols Behind Altars (1929).

      In 1930 Modotti, framed for but then acquitted of the murder of her revolutionary Cuban lover, Julio Antonio Mella, was deported from Mexico. She photographed briefly and without distinction in Berlin and moved to Moscow where she more or less abandoned photography for politics. She was active in the headquarters of International Red Aid and lived in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. In 1939 she returned to Mexico City incognito with her companion the Stalinist Vittorio Vidali. There she died a few years later, rumoured to have been poisoned by Vidali in the service of the party. Modotti's great personal beauty, ardent relationships, and active involvement in left-wing politics have often overshadowed her real contributions to photography. Although her photographic career spanned only about seven years, she produced during those years a number of memorable images.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Modotti — Tina Modotti (* 16. August 1896 in Udine/Italien; † 6. Januar 1942 in Mexiko Stadt/Mexiko) wurde als Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini geboren. Die Koseform Assuntina wurde zu Tina. Sie war Schauspielerin, Fotografin und Revolutionärin.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Tina Modotti — dans le film The Tiger s Coat (1920) Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini[1] dite Tina[2] …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tina Modotti — (August 16 (or 17) 1896 ndash; January 5, 1942) was an Italian photographer, model, actress, and revolutionary political activist. Professional career She was born Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini in Udine, Friuli, ItalyJ. Paul Getty… …   Wikipedia

  • Tina Modotti — (* 16. August 1896 in Udine/Italien; † 6. Januar 1942 in Mexiko Stadt/Mexiko) wurde als Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini geboren. Die Koseform Assuntina wurde zu Tina. Sie war Schauspielerin, Fotografin und Revolutionärin.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Tina — ist eine Kurzform zu mehreren weiblichen Vornamen. Er kommt aber auch als eigenständiger Vorname vor. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Herkunft und Bedeutung des Namens 2 Namenstag 3 Bekannte Namensträgerinnen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Tina Modotti — Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Nacimiento 17 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Tina Modotti — Adelaide Luigia Modotti Fotógrafa italiana nacida el 17 de agosto de 1896 en Udine y muerta en 1942; mujer admirable de legendaria belleza e inteligencia que se relacionó con los hombres más célebres de su tiempo. A los 17 años emigró a Estados… …   Enciclopedia Universal

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  • Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores — Elena Poniatowska 1989 bei einer Autogrammstunde in Mexiko Stadt Elena Poniatowska, eigentlich Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor (* 19. Mai 1932 in Paris) ist eine der renommiertesten Schriftstellerinnen und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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