Open Doors, Mexico City

" . . . the emptiness of the house is terrible . . . I had the illusion that you had just gone to town and would be back in a little while--only for moments the truth flashed through my mind and then the pain and loneliness almost choked me . . ."

Tina Modotti revealed these feelings to her former lover, Edward Weston , after his permanent departure from their home. The statement, like her portrait, No. 3 , makes clear her sense of abandonment. This series of open doors inside the Mexico City flat they had shared creates a study of surfaces, spatial depth, grids, and angles. Devoid of any personal effects, the portrait appears empty, surely reflecting Modotti's mood at the time.