Tinisima

This moving novel tells the tumultuous story of Tina Modotti, an Italian refugee to the United States who initially gained attention as a Hollywood actress. Brilliant, beautiful, fiery, and promiscuous, Modotti modeled for and lived with photographer Edward Weston in Mexico in the 1920s. An accomplished photographer herself, she became a militant member of the Mexican Communist Party. When Modotti was accused of the murder of her Cuban lover, the Mexican press had a field day, publishing nude photographs of her along with sensational stories about her various love affairs. Eventually she fled to the U.S.S.R. and then to Europe, where she became a secret agent and a nurse under an assumed name, returning to Mexico to meet an early death at the age of forty-five. Capturing with great sensitivity Modotti's sensuality, spirit, and conviction this extraordinary recreation of a remarkable life is a tightly woven blend of fact and fiction from "one of Mexico's leading literary figures." -The New York Times Book Review � Author is Mexico's preeminent history. Taking you back through the ages, the Guerrilla Girls demonstrate how males (particularly white males) have dominated the art scene, and discouraged, belittled, or obscured women's involvement. Their skeptical and hilarious interpretations of "popular" theory are augmented by the newest research and the expertise of prominent feminist art historians. "Believe-it-or-not" quotations from some of the "experts" are sprinkled throughout, as are the Guerrilla Girls' signature masterpieces: reproductions of famous art works, slightly "altered" for historic accuracy and vindication. This colorful reinterpretation of classic and modernart, as outrageous as it is visually arresting, is a much-needed corrective to traditional art history, and an unabashed celebration of female artists.