On the heels of LOEWE FOUNDATION and Jonathan Anderson’s exhibition Chance Encounters, LOEWE reveals its first-ever solo exhibit in Miami devoted to photographer Tina Modotti (1896 – 1942). Most often described as a muse, model, actress or femme fatale, this show focuses on the woman behind the lens and her exceptional visual vocabulary.
Modotti was born in Udine, Italy and emigrated at a young age to join her father in San Francisco. Her partner, Roubaix "Robo" de l'Abrie Richey, was perhaps the first most significant creative influence in her life, but Edward Weston—Modotti’s mentor and lover—taught her about documenting, photography and capturing their newfound cultural and bohemian community in Mexico City. Opening a portrait studio together at a time when Mexico was bubbling with creative energies and angst, Weston and Modotti’s circle of friends included Frida Kahlo, Guadalupe Marin and Diego Rivera. The modernist and socially charged traces seen in works of the times are reflected in Modotti’s photographic aesthetic, and in her choice imagery of the indigenous individual, hardened beauty, and local architecture.
This LOEWE exhibition of black and white and platinum photographs is all the more special because of the archive’s limited availability. Modotti was active as a photographer for less than ten years of her life, making her work highly scarce. After being deported from Mexico in 1929 on political grounds, she dedicated herself to revolutionary and anti-fascist activities in Russia and Spain.
On view through April 15, visit Modotti at LOEWE in the Miami Design District at 110 NE 39th Street, just west of Palm Court.
