Tina Modotti

Jay Parrino, Kansas City, 2015

"Richard Moore Photographs has a special interest in work by photographers combining masterful artistic execution with a documentary point of view. Two important women photographers who exemplify these qualities are Dorothea Lange and Tina Modotti.  Both photographers created iconic images widely reproduced and valued by museums and collectors. These early printings are rarely seen images by these two remarkable photographers.

After her expulsion from Mexico because of her political activities, Tina Modotti settled in Berlin in 1930 and tried to support herself through photography. The Berlin photographer, Lotta Jacobi, gave Modotti the use of her darkroom and studio and offered to distribute Modotti’s photographs through her photo agency, Atelier Jacobi. This probably unique print of a workers rally has the Atelier Jacobi credit stamp on the verso. Modotti signed boldly in ink over this credit stamp, “copyright by Tina Modotti”. While intended for reportage, the dynamic composition of this image exemplifies Modotti’s embrace of the German Neues Sehen (New Vision). Very few examples of Modotti’s work made in Berlin survive. Upon leaving Berlin to live in Moscow in late 1930, Modotti gave up serious photography and devoted herself to Communist Party activities." - Richard Moore

Founded in 2000, Richard Moore Photographs is a private dealer of photographs, primarily vintage works by 19th and 20th century American photographers. Specialties include California photography, The Photo-Secession, Group f/64, Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographers, Social Documentary photography and Photo-journalism. Richard Moore has served on the AIPAD Board of Directors since 2011 and is currently President.