Hybridity, communism and the avant-garde: Irena Blühová and Tina Modotti

Secklehner, Julia Maria (2016) Hybridity, communism and the avant-garde: Irena Blühová and Tina Modotti. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This investigation compares the work of Irena Blühová and Tina Modotti between 1924 and 1936 based on ideas of cultural hybridity, photographic theory and social and Marxist art history. Centred on the premise that they worked in similar socio- political environments, shared common biographical points and were some of the first modernist women photographers in their region, a number of aspects relating to their work are examined in relation to their socio-political background. Selected works by Blühová and Modotti are analysed and compared, making apparent that, whilst they start photographing with different ulterior motives, thematically their work is moving into a similar direction from around 1926. Partly, this is due to their involvement with the communist party and the links between politics and photography on an international scale; partly to the fact that they share a concern for the culture of the countries they worked in. These concerns are expanded upon by the fact that both Blühová and Modotti intermediate between the national and the international, the aesthetic, social and the political within their local contexts, which forms distinct similarities in their work.

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Additional Information: Due to copyright restrictions the full text of this thesis cannot be made available online. Access to the printed version is available.
• Keywords: photography, interwar Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Blühová, Modotti.
• Subjects: N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general; P Language and Literature > PB Modern European Languages; P Language and Literature > PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature; T Technology > TR Photography
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities
• Supervisor's Name: Čulík, Dr. Jan and Gardner, Dr. Nathanial
• Date of Award: 2016
• Depositing User: Julia Maria Secklehner
• Unique ID: glathesis:2016-7731
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 07 Nov 2016 09:29
• Last Modified: 21 Feb 2017 16:41
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/7731