Modotti, Tina
American (b. Italy, 1896-1942)

PUBLISHED TITLE: Woman of Tehuantepec

ca. 1929
gelatin silver print
8.2 x 7.5 cm.
Museum Collection
GEH NEG: 23284
74:0061:0159

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES:
Constantine, Mildred. --Tina Modotti: A Fragile Life.-- New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1983. p. 126.//
Hirsch, Robert. --Seizing the Light: A History of Photography.-- New York: McGraw Hill, 1999. p. 277.//
Mulligan, Therese & Wooters, David. --Photography from 1839 to today: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.-- Cologne: Taschen, 1999. p. 498.//

EXHIBITION HISTORY: "Modotti and Weston: Mexicanidad", US, NY, Rochester, GEH - South Gallery, February 15 - May 4, 1997.//

INSCRIPTION: verso-(in ink) "This I enlarged."

NOTES: Catalogued 10/87, DZ. Title from --Tina Modotti: A Fragile Life--. "In 1929, Modotti traveled to the towns of Juchitán and Tehuantepec in the southern state of Oaxaca. Obstentibly, the trip was to recover from the recent assassination of her lover, the Communist revoluntary, Julio Antonio Mella, in whose murder Modotti was falsely implicated, and later acquited, by Mexican authorities. Women and children, rather than men, figure in Modotti's photographs of Tehuntapec because its society was predominantly matriarchal. This photograph documents everyday life in the small town with a disarming immediacy characteristic of snapshot photography. Yet in this image that depicts a woman supporting on her head a painted gourd known as a yecapixtle, the upraised and close-up view also conveys a heroic monumentality. Other works from Tehuantepec contain a similar evocation of the women' enduring dignity and fortitude." [Therese Mulligan, 1/97]

SUBJECT: portrait, female