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San Antonio Museum of Art, Gift of Peter Glusker, MD in memory of his mother, Anita Brenner.

Anita

San Antonio Museum of Art, Gift of Peter Glusker, MD in memory of his mother, Anita Brenner.
San Antonio Museum of Art, Gift of Peter Glusker, MD in memory of his mother, Anita Brenner.
Contact San Antonio Museum of Art, Registrar Department for rights and reproduction of this image. Photography by Peggy Tenison. © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York

Anita

Artist: (American, 1886-1958)
Date: ca. 1926
Dimensions:
3 7/8 x 2 15/16 in. (9.8 x 7.5 cm)
Paper: 8 × 6 in. (20.3 × 15.2 cm)
Mat: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Peter Glusker, MD in memory of his mother, Anita Brenner
Object number: 2003.18.11
Copyright: © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
Provenance: Anita Brenner Collection
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)

Not on view


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.