December 17th - March 6th, 2010

GALLERY HOURS: TUESDAY-SATURDAY 11-5
T. 212.223.1059

Throckmorton Fine Art is pleased to offer an exhibition of thirty-five rare vintage prints by Tina Modotti. Some of the works shown are unique images. Modotti only took photographs during her seven tumultuous years in Mexico, from 1923-1930. It is estimated that her artistic legacy is limited to six hundred photographs, the majority of which are now in museum collections. (The holder of the most images is the Museum of Modern Art in New York.) Gathered for this exhibit is the largest group of Modotti photographs still in private hands. The photographs exhibited are from a number of distinguished collections, including those of Francis Toor, Xavier Guerrero, and Luis B. Traven. A few of the images were loaned to the retrospective of Modotti at the Philadelphia Museum in 1995, which traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1996, and then to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art the same year.
Although Modotti learned photography from Edward Weston, with whom she had a long, intimate relationship, her photography is distinct from his work. Modotti’s images fit into the innovative photography of the 1920s that pushed the boundaries of the medium—and of art itself. This work, often called modernist photography, embraced experimentation, unusual points of view, and unconventional subjects. Modotti’s subject matter varies, including as it does crowd scenes, industrial views, Mexican folk culture, flora, and even portraits. Her compositions, though, mark her work: there are strong angles and an unnerving starkness that give her photographs a captivating immediacy.
During their years together in Mexico, Modotti and Weston were part of a celebrated circle of artists and intellectuals, including Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Modotti’s involvement in politics led to her expulsion from Mexico in 1930. Leaving Mexico, she became even more consumed by politics, ending her work as a photographer. She leaves us, though, a rich body of images, which is amply represented in this exhibit.