Tina Modotti 1896-1942

Sotheby's New York, 5 October 1995, Sale 6747, Lot 144A

Acquired by the present owner from the above

Other prints of this image:

Frances Toor, Mexican Folkways, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1927, p. 43

Sarah M. Lowe, Tina Modotti: Photographs (New York, 1998), p. 12

Margaret Hooks, Tina Modotti 55 (New York, 2002), unpaginated

Valentina Agostinis, Tina Modotti: Gli Anni Luminosi (Pordenone, 1992), p. 114

Aperture Masters of Photography: Tina Modotti (New York, 1999), p. 19

Tina Modotti moved to Mexico City in 1923 with her lover and photographic mentor Edward Weston.  From the time of their arrival, the two became involved in the city's overlapping artistic and political circles.  Modotti's embrace of Mexican culture was far more intense than that of Weston, and her sensitivity to the plight of the Mexican people is evident in much of her work.

Woman Carrying Olla was reproduced in Frances Toor's Mexican Folkways in 1927.  Mexican Folkways was a bi-monthly, bilingual, publication created by Toor in an effort to capture the spirit of the Mexican people through writing and art.  Beginning in 1927, Modotti contributed over forty-five photographs to Mexican Folkways.  Many of these images, such as Woman Carrying Olla, illustrated the integration of Mexican crafts into daily life.  In this image, the woman carries a large 'olla,' or large clay vessel, used for holding water or grain.