Tina Modotti Quotes

Pure your gentle name, pure your fragile life, bees, shadows, fire, snow, silence and foam, combined with steel and wire and pollen to make up your firm and delicate being." Pablo Neruda's epitaph for Tina Modotti

Tina Modotti, sorella, non dormi, no, non dormi forse il tuo cuore sente crescere la rosa di ieri, l'ultima rosa di ieri, la rosa nuova Riposa dolcemente, sorella (...) Lo senti quel passo, un passo pieno di passi, qualcosa di grandioso che viene dalla steppa, dal Don, dal freddo? Lo senti quel passo fiero di soldato sulla neve? Sorella, sono i tuoi passi (...) Un mondo marcia verso dove andavi tu, sorella Ogni giorno cantano i canti delle tue labbra sulle labbra del popolo glorioso che tu amavi. Col tuo cuore valoroso.

I never would have believed that I would be so strong and not lose my head in a situation where the wind of collective insanity is blowing.

Weston, having been born in Chicago, was raised with typical, well-grounded, mid-western values. On his 16th birthday, his father gave him a Kodak camera with which he started what would become his lifetime vocation. During the summer of 1908, Weston met Flora May Chandler, a schoolteacher who was seven years older than he was. The following year the couple married and in time they had four sons. Weston and his family moved to Southern California and opened a portrait studio on Brand Boulevard, in the artsy section of Glendale, California, called Tropico. His artistic skills soon became apparent and he became well known for his portraits of famous people, such as Carl Sandburg and Max Eastman. In the autumn of 1913, hearing of his work, Margrethe Mather, a photographer from Los Angeles, came to his studio, where Weston asked her to be his studio assistant. It didn’t take long before the two developed a passionate, intimate relationship. Both Weston and Mather became active in the growing bohemian cultural scene in Los Angeles. She was extremely outgoing and artistic in a most flamboyant way. Her bohemian sexual values were new to Weston’s conventional thinking, but Mather excited him and presented him with a new outlook that he found enticing. Mather was beautiful, and being bisexual and having been a high-class prostitute, was delightfully worldly. Mather's uninhibited lifestyle became irresistible to Weston and her photography took him into a new and exciting art form. As Mather worked and overtly played with him, she presented a lifestyle that was in stark contrast to Weston’s conventional home life, and he soon came to see his wife Flora as a person with whom he had little in common. Weston expanded his horizons but tried to keep his affairs with other women a secret. As he immersed himself further into nude photography, it became more difficult to hide his new lifestyle from his wife. Flora became suspicious about this secret life, but apparently suffered in silence. One of the first of many women who agreed to model nude for Weston was Tina Modotti. Although Mather remained with Weston, Tina soon became his primary model and remained so for the next several years. There was an instant attraction between Tina Modotti, Mather and Edward Weston, and although he remained married, Tina became his student, model and lover. Richey soon became aware of the affair, but it didn’t seem to bother him, as they all continued to remain good friends. The relationship Tina had with Weston could definitely be considered “cheating,” since knowledge of the affair was withheld as much as possible from his wife Flora May. Perhaps his wife knew and condoned this new promiscuous relationship, since she had also endured the intense liaison with Margrethe Mather. Tina, Mather and Weston continued working together until Tina and Weston suddenly left for Mexico in 1923. As a group, they were all a part of the cozy, artsy, bohemian society of Los Angeles, which was where they were introduced to the then-fashionable, communistic philosophy.

Many people believed that it was Julio Antonio Mella’s oversized ego that motivated him, but others said that he really was sincere and believed that he could bring about significant changes by his demands. There were also a number of female students known for being political radicals, who played an important part in shaping Julio’s life at that time. Rosario Guillauma (Charito) and Sarah Pascual were both close friends of Julio, as well as being fellow travelers. The overt communist cell at the University of Havana continued to grow dramatically under his leadership and many of the university students became active members of the party. Although, during the time he was at the university he was linked to women radicals and was married to Oliva Zaldivar Freyre. However, following his marriage, it was Tina Modotti, a movie star, model, notorious spy and renowned photographer who became the love of his life!

In the early 1900’s, the beautiful movie star Tina Modotti appeared in several operas, plays and silent movies, one of which was The Tiger’s Coat, a clip of which can still be viewed on “YouTube.” Page 153, The Exciting Story of Cuba by Captain Hank Bracker

Not now” could mean “Maybe someday.” “Not now” could mean, “Not after all the things I’ve seen and done. Not ever.

Just about this time, Julio Mella suddenly got married to his primary girlfriend, Olivia Zandiver. Perhaps the fact that she became pregnant by him influenced this decision and soon after the wedding, they had a daughter whom they named Natasha. Marriage did not stop Julio from having other affairs. With his wife taking care of Natasha, he was still out seeing others. There was Sylvia Masvidal, Edith Margarita, Lucitta and lastly Tina Modotti. He had what the Cubans like to call machismo or, loosely translated, male chauvinistic virility. There was no doubt but that he was interested in the ladies, and they in him… Beautiful Tina loved photography and frequently posed nude for the lens. Now that she was Jullio’s girlfriend, life for them was more than exciting…. For him it would prove to be deadly!

I cannot, as you [Edward Weston] once proposed to me—“solve the problem of life by losing myself in the problem of art”… in my case, life is always struggling to predominate and art naturally suffers.

The official position of the present Cuban government is that President Machado had Mella assassinated, but it recognizes that both Vittorio Vidali and the vivacious Tina Modotti were Stalinist operatives. Vidali was well known in Spain as Carlos or Comandante Contreras, the Commander of the Communist 5th Régiment of the Republican Militia. He was greatly feared, being a known assassin, and was allegedly responsible for the deaths of many anti-Stalinists within the Communist ranks. Later when he returned to Mexico, Vidali was acknowledged as having been involved in the May 24, 1940, failed attack on Trotsky’s life. On August 20, 1940, another Stalinist and Soviet NKVD agent, Ramón Mercader, an accomplice to Vidali, sank a mountaineering pickaxe deep into Trotsky’s skull. Taken to a Mexico City hospital, Trotsky lingered long enough to identify his attacker and died the following day. Mercader was convicted and sentenced to twenty years in a Mexican prison for the murder. During his time in prison, Joseph Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union awarded him the Order of Lenin, in absentia. After his release in 1961, Mercader officially became a Hero of the Soviet Union. On October 18, 1978, at the age of 65, Ramón Mercader died in Havana.

Sempre, quando le parole "arte" e "artistico" vengono applicate al mio lavoro fotografico, io mi sento in disaccordo. Questo è dovuto sicuramente al cattivo uso e abuso che viene fatto di questi termini. Mi considero una fotografa, niente di più. Se le mie fotografie si differenziano da ciò che di solito si produce in questo campo, è precisamente perché io cerco di fare non arte, ma oneste fotografie, senza distorsioni o manipolazioni. La maggior parte dei fotografi va ancora alla ricerca dell'effetto "artistico", imitando altri mezzi di espressione grafica. Il risultato è un prodotto ibrido che non riesce a dare al lavoro la caratteristica più valida che dovrebbe avere: la qualità fotografica. [...] La fotografia, proprio perché può essere prodotta solo nel presente e perché si basa su ciò che esiste oggettivamente davanti alla macchina fotografica, rappresenta il medium più soddisfacente per registrare con obiettività la vita in tutti i suoi aspetti ed è da questo che deriva il suo valore di documento. Se a ciò si aggiungono sensibilità e intelligenza e, soprattutto, un chiaro orientamento sul ruolo che dovrebbe avere nel campo dello sviluppo storico, credo che il risultato sia qualcosa che merita un posto nella produzione sociale, a cui tutti noi dovremmo contribuire" (T. Modotti).

Tina Modotti and EdwardWeston opened an upscale portrait studio and became involved in the avant-garde community of San Angel, a fashionable southern suburb in Mexico City, which was at one time a weekend retreat for Spanish nobility. It wasn’t until about sixty years ago that this still-quaint district became an integral part of Mexico City. Tina, as usual, modeled and romped in the nude, this time for Diego Rivera, an internationally acclaimed artist. In 1926, Diego’s wife Lupe Marín, accused him of having an affair with Tina and insisted that he not see her again. Not being daunted by his wife’s insistence, Diego frequently hung out with Tina and her younger friend Frida Kahlo, who in turn also enjoyed Diego’s company. It was all just part of the wild times in San Angel, however it probably led to Diego and Lupe’s separation and ultimate divorce.

The Communist Party of Cuba really had its start during the 1920’s, but not wanting to appear all too radical, the founders dropped the word “communist” and softened its name to the “Popular Socialist Party.” The more radical faction of the party eventually won out and again changed the name of their party to the more militant “Communist Revolutionary Union.” One of the primary founders and leaders of this Communist movement was our young man in Havana, “Julio Antonio Mella.” He never accepted things at face value and challenged authority whenever he felt that they were becoming abusive or self-serving. There was no doubting that he always stood out from the crowd. Not only was his influence felt among the students and faculty but he also had a reputation as an audacious ladies’ man. Being handsome, well-built, with a head of wavy brown hair and sensuous lips, he was known to have bedded many of his female followers. Some of these women said that he resembled a Grecian God. Athletically inclined, he worked out and also became a valued member of the university rowing team. The young lady that was with him when he was assassinated was Tina Modotti.