The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Saturday, December 2, 2006

Tina Modotti's House


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_modotti

She was a photographer, model, silent film actress, and leftist who once playfully described her profession as "men." She acted in several silent movies in the early 1920s and later became a model for prominent photographers and artists of the time.

… Modotti is thought to have been introduced to photography as a young girl in Italy, where her uncle, Pietro Modotti, maintained a photography studio. Years later in the U.S., her father opened a similar studio in San Francisco, where her interest undoubtedly developed further. However, it was her relationship with Edward Weston that was to allow her to gravitate upward to become a world class photographer. Mexican photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo divided Modotti’s career as a photographer into two distinct categories: "Romantic" and "Revolutionary." The former period includes her time spent as Weston’s darkroom assistant, office manager and, finally, creative partner. Together they opened a portrait studio in Mexico City and were commissioned to travel around Mexico taking photographs for Anita Bremmer’s book, "Idols Behind Altars." During this time she also became the photographer of choice for the blossoming Mexican mural movement, documenting the works of José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. Many of her pictures of flowers originate from that time.

Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Kate said...

I'll have to learn more about her. From the little I know, Weston himself was a pretty busy guy himself! I've seen Orozco's art in Guadalajara, and it's magnificient. Many years ago I used to check out prints of Rivera's from our library to hang in my apartment. Then they stopped the service---, I love the work of Mexican artists.

Carraol said...

Yes, Weston is another story. I have a pair of fine copies of Rivera's work, Portrait of Dolores del Rio and La Piñata.