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Tina Modotti

Tina Modotti Biography

Photographer

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“Always, when the words art and artistic are applied to my photographic work, I am disagreeably affected. This is due, surely, to the bad use and abuse made of those terms. I consider myself a photographer, nothing more. If my photographs differ from that which is usually done in this field, it is precisely because I try to produce not art but honest photographs, without distortions or manipulations.”

IfsTryingArtMadeDoneUseTermHonestFieldsProduceAbusePhotographerPhotographDuesArtisticManipulationAffectedDistortionUse And Abuse
Book:Tina Modotti: photographs
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“To know whether photography is or is not an art matters little. What is important is to distinguish between good and bad photography. By good is meant that photography which accepts all the limitations inherent in photographic technique and takes advantage of the possibilities and characteristics the medium offers. By bad photography is mean that which is done, one may say, with a kind of inferiority complex, with no appreciation of what photography itself offers: but on the contrary, recurring to all sorts of imitations.”

KnowsKindMayMeanLittlesArtImportantMatterDoneAcceptingPossibilityOffersPhotographyAdvantageComplexesAppreciationTechniqueContraryMediumsLimitationCharacteristicsInherentImitationGood And BadInferiorityRecurringInferiority ComplexNo Appreciation
Book:Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti
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“... I just feel impotent - I don't know which way to start or turn. You know what they say about a prophet in one's own country - well - in a way it works for me too: you see - this might be called my home town - well of all the old friends and acquaintances not one takes me seriously as a photographer - not one has asked me to show my work... (On returning to San Francisco)”

KnowsWayFeelsWellsCountryShowsHomeMightTurnsTownsPhotographerProphetTake MeSan FranciscoAcquaintanceOld FriendsHome Town
Book:The Letters from Tina Modotti to Edward Weston
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“Photography, precisely because it can only be produced in the present and because it is based on what exists objectively before the camera, takes its place as the most satisfactory medium for registering objective life in all its aspects, and from this comes its documental value. If to this is added sensibility and understanding and, above all, a clear orientation as to the place it should have in the field of historical development, I believe that the result is something worthy of a place in social production, to which we should all contribute.”

IfsShouldBelieveValuesI BelieveSocialUnderstandingResultsClearFieldsDevelopmentPhotographyAspectShould HaveCamerasHistoricalProductionsWorthyObjectivesMediumsSensibilityOrientation
Author:Tina Modotti
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“The majority of photographers still seek artistic effects, imitating other mediums of graphic expression. The result is a hybrid product that does not succeed in giving their work the most valuable characteristic it should have, - photographic quality.”

GivingShouldDoeStillsResultsQualityEffectsExpressionProductsSucceedShould HaveMajorityPhotographerValuableMediumsArtisticCharacteristicsGraphicHybridImitatingImitating Others
Book:Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti
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“I don't believe in marriage. I think at worst it's a hostile political act, a way for small-minded men to keep women in the house and out of the way, wrapped up in the guise of tradition and conservative religious nonsense. At best, it's a happy delusion - these two people who truly love each other and have no idea how truly miserable they're about to make each other. But, but, when two people know that, and they decide with eyes wide open to face each other and get married anyway, then I don't think it's conservative or delusional. I think it's radical and courageous and very romantic.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsMenWayBelieveTwoIdeasEyeFacesPoliticalHouseReligiousWorstMarriedTraditionDon't BelieveConservativeWideMiserableRadicalNo IdeaNonsenseDelusionCourageousHostileLove Each OtherGuiseDelusionalVery RomanticEyes Wide Open
Author:Tina Modotti
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