Tehuana

The life in her art

By Victoria Alba

 

The exhibition catalog for "Tina Modotti" explores the attitudes

(she was seen as muse, inspiration, helpmate) that delayed

scholarly appraisal of her work. "Images by Modotti were eclipsed

by images of her.... They invariably called attention to her as a

woman. As a result, Modotti's art was seen through a filter of

gender," says curator Lowe, who believes Modotti's association

with Weston inhibited critical assessment of her photographs. "As

his nude model, Modotti played mistress to Weston's status as a

'master' of modern photography, posing on the wrong side of the

camera, the subject of art, not its creator."

 

"It's hard to take a naked person seriously," Lowe continues.

"Georgia O'Keeffe was photographed nude by her photographer lover

Alfred Stieglitz, but she outlived him [by] decades and hence had

tremendous control over [both] how those images were presented and

her reputation as an artist." The art world resists viewing

photographs with social content as art, Lowe adds. Modotti's

questionable association with Stalinism further hindered

appreciation of her work.

 

Weston's tutelage is reflected in Modotti's aesthetic and

technique. Like him, she used a large-format 4 x 5 inch view

camera requiring a tripod and, later, a 3 x 4 inch handheld

Graflex, which allowed greater mobility. But from the start,

Modotti pursued a path independent of Weston. She was influenced

by the plastic arts movements of Mexico and Europe and was open to

experimentation, as evidenced by her double exposure Wine Glasses,

from 1924.

Wine Glasses 1924

More important, her work was shaped by the social conditions and

turbulent history unfolding around her. She countered Weston's

dictum "art for art's sake" with her own philosophy: "I cannot, as

you once proposed to me, 'solve the problem of life by losing

myself in the problem of art.' In my case, life is always

struggling to predominate.... I put too much art in my life."

 

Her subject matter was similar to Weston's portraits, still

lifes, and abstract geometric and tonal studies are among her

works but in many cases the rigorously composed objects she

photographed carried political, social, or psychological

connotations, particularly when understood in the context in which

they were photographed.

 

Modotti's work is largely iconic. Consider Mexican Sombrero with

Hammer and Sickle, from 1927: with a uniquely Mexican twist this

clever still life commingles Communist Party emblems with a symbol

for the campesinos. At the same time its sharply focused play of

light and shadow pairs strikingly contrasting textures: the cold

metallic sheen of the sickle; the dark and dense wooden hammer

handle; the porous and pale woven hat, with its frilly

embellishment. Nothing seems out of place in this perfectly

symmetrical composition. The disparate elements are in complete

harmony.

Composicion con Maiz, Cartuchos y Guitarra 1927

Composicion con Hoz, Cartuchos y Guitarra 1927

One of Modotti's strongest images is Workers Parade, from 1926.

Modotti eliminated the horizon by shooting down on the march from

a high vantage point. We see no faces, only a visual tapestry of

hats; each individual has been absorbed into the unified mass. The

sea of sombreros, softly focused and luminous glowing with an

almost religious, ethereal light fills the frame, suggesting

that this parade of workers has no end, that it cannot be

contained.

 

In Woman with Flag, from 1928, the flag bisects the frame, giving

the work a diagonal drive. The woman who bears it strides proud

and erect, the flow of her white skirt and the dark flag

contributing to the photograph's overall sense of movement,

strength, and dynamism. Woman of Tehuantepec, from 1929, was one

of the last images Modotti captured in Mexico. Tehuantepec is a

matriarchal society in which women hold political and economic

control. Significantly, Modotti photographed her subject a

woman supporting an enormous vessel atop her head reverently,

from a low vantage point, to convey the woman's authority and

power.

 

A few of Modotti's photographs straightforwardly document the

reality of early-20th-century Mexico scenes of workers'

meetings, outdoor markets, and fiestas. Some are simply beautiful

pictures, such as the chiaroscuro study Calla Lilies, from 1925.

 

Calla Lily 1925

And surely one of her loveliest and most poignant images is Roses

(1924). That photograph is a memento mori, in that the fading

flowers symbolize mortality and a message of love. Rendered in

subtle variations of white and gray, the delicate rose petals look

almost ghostlike. They easily could be seen as symbolic of

Modotti's evanescent life, which she conducted with exceeding

grace.

Roses 1924
Calla Lilies 1925	Arches
Campesinita