Tina Modotti

Born into a working-class family in Udine, Modotti emigrated and grew up in the United States, where she became an actress in Hollywood in the 1920s and met Edward Weston, who introduced her to photography and with whom she moved to Mexico in 1923. Almost all her photographic work was produced between then and 1930. From an initial interest in abstract forms, her gaze evolved to focus on the human being and on denouncing inequality and injustice: the precarious conditions of workers, urban poverty and the role of women in the community became, among other similar issues, the main subjects of a photography conceived as political propaganda.

This exhibition, the most extensive Tina Modotti exhibition to date, is the result of extensive research, which has made it possible to collect a large number of vintage prints by Modotti. In addition to the nearly 250 photographs on display, grouped chronologically into four sections, the exhibition includes documentary materials, one of the films that Modotti starred in in Hollywood and some works by Edward Weston.

Tina Modotti’s first contact with the performing arts came when she arrived in San Francisco in 1913, at the age of 16. After appearing in a few plays, she entered the world of cinema in 1920. At that time, actresses were sought after to play heroines, adventuresses or femmes fatales. Tina, with her violet complexion and dark hair, seemed to embody the prototype of this type of exotic woman, a cliché from which she herself would soon depart. As far as is known, Modotti appeared in three films, Tiger’s Coat (1920) by Roy Clements, in which she played the role of the Mexican Jean Ogilvie; Riding with Death (1921) by Jacques Jaccard, in the character of Rosa Carilla; and I Can Explain (1922) by George D. Baker, as Carmencita Gárdez.

On June 16th, at the KBr Auditorium, a cinema-concert session with the Catherine Vincent duo, who will be playing live music to The Tiger’s Coat.