Portrait of Julio Antonio Mella

Modotti's valiant portrait of the Cuban-born Julio Antonio Mella portrays her reverance for the radical communist leader. Deeply devoted to Cuban affairs, he was an eminent founding member of the Cuban Communist Party formed in 1925. An outspoken leader of reform amongst university students, he urged them to join the Communist Youth League. He also founded the Cuban section of the Anti-Imperialist League in the same year. After leading an assault on Gerardo Machado, the Cuban president-elect, Mella was imprisoned. Hoping to quell the voice of the opposition, Machado was instead forced to release and deport Mella after he brought international attention to his cause by going on a nineteen day hunger strike. In 1926, at only 22 years of age, Mella arrived in Mexico as a crusader for the Latin American worker's rights. While in Mexico, he joined many of the same organizations with which Modotti was affiliated, and their love affair became known in 1928 - the two even appear in one of Diego Rivera's murals at the Ministry of Education in Mexico City. "In Mexico he found new emotions, and in Tina he found the woman to encourage and accompany a man of action. Their love flowered from the time and the place, and was nurtured by the fine comradeship of belonging together to the Communist Party. They were individuals too and each constituted for the other a pledge for the future. After Weston, it seems as though Tina could only love a man who was fighting to change the world...Mella, a young hero-figure among the left in his own country and in Mexico, had been forced into exile to pursue his dedication to a political cause. This guiding philosophy, together with the undeniable sexual attraction, might have provided complete fulfillment for Tina at this time of her life." (Constantine, A Fragile Life, pp.104-105). In 1929, Mella was shot and killed in the street. Although Modotti was suspected for a short time, it is believed that Mella's killer was sent from Cuba at the demand of Machado. The incident forever changed her life. Modotti practically stopped photographing in 1929, was forced to leave Mexico and eventually fled to Moscow in 1930, focusing on her work with the party.
Prints of this image are thought to be extremely rare. The only other print thought to be extant was included in Sarah Lowe's exhibition, Tina Modotti: Photographs, referenced above.