Tina Modotti - Latin America New York Saturday, October 3, 2009 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    From the Collection of Giuliana Scime; to the present Private Collection

  • Catalogue Essay


    When Tina Modotti moved to Mexico in 1923 following the death of her first husband, she embarked on a journey that would transform her both personally and professionally. It was there that she transitioned from actress to photographer under the tutelage of her mentor and lover Edward Weston. While the current lot and its similarities to Weston’s notable still-lifes may suggest his professional influence on her, Sarah Lowe, in her introduction to Tina Modotti: Photographs, argues that it is perhaps more indicative of her influence on him. Taken in the 1920s, the subject and formal aesthetic are consistent with her floral studies beginning in 1925 and seem to foreshadow, rather than emulate, Weston’s vegetable still-lifes which he began in 1927. Like her other works of this period, Untitled (corn) demonstrates Modotti’s keen interest in Mexican culture and the products of the local working class.

54

Untitled (corn)

1920s
Gelatin silver print.
19 1/8 x 11 7/8 in. (48.6 x 30.2 cm).
Signed in ink on the recto; credit stamp on the verso.

Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for $22,500

Latin America

3 Oct 2009
New York