Artwork
Anita
Artist
Edward Weston
(American, 1886-1958)
DepartmentLatin American Art
Dateca. 1926
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 3 7/8 × 2 15/16 in. (9.8 × 7.5 cm)
Sheet: 8 × 6 in. (20.3 × 15.2 cm)
Mat: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
Sheet: 8 × 6 in. (20.3 × 15.2 cm)
Mat: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Peter Glusker, MD in memory of his mother, Anita Brenner
Object number2003.18.11
Copyright© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
DescriptionPortrait of a young woman with short, dark hair pictured frontally from the chest up. The sitter is positioned slightly off center and her body is cut off mid-shoulder on the left side of the image. Her head is tilted to the right and she gazes out.Label Text“What I like about his work is the quality of transmutation. The nude he did of me looks like a pear. The hand of Amado Galván with the bowl it is shaping looks like something growing . . . without in the least alienating objects from their own naturaleza [inherent nature].” —Anita Brenner, journal entry, Friday, February 12, 1926
The sitter of this portrait, Anita Brenner (1905–1974), was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, but fled with her family to San Antonio during the Mexican Revolution. Brenner relocated to Mexico City, in 1923, as an aspiring writer and became part of the vibrant post-revolutionary circle of artists and intellectuals that included Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, who both photographed her on several occasions.
Brenner’s groundbreaking publication Idols Behind Altars: Modern Mexican Art and Its Cultural Roots (1929) features Weston’s and Modotti’s photographs and made Mexican art and culture accessible to readers in the United States.
(Lana Meador, 2017)
ProvenanceAnita Brenner CollectionNot on view
Collections
Walker Evans
Summer 1936, printed later
Danny Lyon
1963, printed 2015
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
