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

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Two men carrying large loads on backs

ca. 1927-29
gelatin silver print
9.6 x 7.1 cm.
Museum Collection
GEH NEG: 23295
74:0061:0164

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Mulligan, Therese & Wooters, David. --Photography from 1839 to today: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.-- Cologne: Taschen, 1999. p. 499.//

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

INSCRIPTION: (no inscriptions)

NOTES: Catalogued 10/87, DZ. "Many of Modotti's best known photographs portray workers and their labor. This subject was expressive of the political and social ambitions of her work. It also reflected a larger movement in photography in Europe, particularly Germany and Russia, and in America to engage the documentary qualities of the medium for social change. The worker photographs housed in the George Eastman House collections are predominately linked to agriculture, although Modotti did photograph workers with modern machinery and technology....Modotti implies a sense of universality about her subject; one worker represents all workers, and thus, the struggles of the working class as a whole. This approach was completely in step with the aims of social documentary photography of the time, both in Mexico and abroad. [Therese Mulligan, 1/97]

SUBJECTS:
people, at work
landscape, figures in