Tina Modotti was born August 16, 1901 in Udine, Italy.  From 1908 to 1913 she worked in a textile factory in Udine.  She emigrated to the United States in 1913 and went to work for a silk manufacturer in San Francisco and for the following three years she worked as a self-employed dressmaker.  In 1918 she moved to Hollywood, where she worked for a short time as an actress.  It was in Los Angeles that she met Edward Weston and began to model for his photographs.

In 1923, she moved to Mexico City and and shortly thereafter, Weston joined her to open a photographic studio. She became involved in politics and became friends with Diego Rivera, Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueriros.  In 1931 she was deported from Mexico as a result of her political activities.  She moved to the Soviet Union in 1938.  She then moved to France, and then to Spain.  From 1935 to 1938 while living in Spain she worked as a reporter for the Republican Newspaper "Ayuda."  In 1939 she returned to live in Mexico, where she resided until her death on January 6, 1942.  

Excerpt from:

Through Foreign Eyes  Editors; Carole Naggar and Fred Ritchin, W.W. Norton & Company, 1993, p. 300.