The actor turned filmmaker Tina Modotti began modeling for— and became romantically involved with—photographer Edward Weston in 1921, the same year he made this atmospheric image of her head. Weston taught Modotti photography, and soon she was helping to manage his portrait studio in Glendale, California. By 1923, when Modotti and Weston moved to Mexico, Modotti had committed herself fully to the medium of photography. The next few years were an important period of artistic growth and self-evaluation for both artists as they forged relationships with key figures in the Mexican avant-garde and created new bodies of work. Weston returned to California in December of 1924, but Modotti remained in Mexico for most of the 1920s, increasingly devoting her time and energy to political activism as a Communist.