  About the Artwork
  
  
  In this photograph of calla lilies, Tina Modotti depicted the long, gentle lines of their silhouetted stems leading up to their full blooms. She created a series of plant studies during her stay in Mexico from 1923 to 1930. Her approach to photography was similar to that of her companion, photographer Edward Weston. They shared the belief that a photograph should capture the simple beauty of an object itself through careful composition and technically superior printing methods that simply render in black-and-white tones the detail, texture, and form of the subject.
  
  
  Title
  Calla Lilies
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1927
  
  Artist
  Tina Modotti
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1896 - 1942
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Gelatin silver print
  
  
  Dimensions
  Image: 9 1/4 × 7 inches (23.5 × 17.8 cm)
  Mount: 12 × 14 inches (30.5 × 35.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Photographs
  
  
  Department
  Prints, Drawings &amp; Photographs
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Abraham Borman Family Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  F77.18
  
  
  Copyright
  No known estate claims. Ok to use for non-commercial use. See Nancy Barr.
