Edward Weston: American Photographer Essay, Research Paper

Edward Weston:

American Photographer

Daniel J Brophy

History of Photography

Term Paper

?Weston is, in the real sense, one of the few creative artists of today. He

has recreated the matter-forms and forces of nature; he has made these

forms eloquent of the fundamental unity of the work. His work illuminates

man?s inner journey toward perfection of the spirit.?

–Ansel Adams, Date Unknown

Edward Weston (1886-1958) may seem like he was a confused man in

trying to find his photographic goal(s). Just like many other photographers,

both of his time and now, he strove to find what truly satisfied his talent and

the acceptance of himself. He generated something for all photographers.

This was success and recognition as a ?grand master? of twentieth century

photography. This was a legacy that tells an interesting tale; it tells a tale of

a thousand plus successful and loved photographs, a daily journal, and a life

with its ups and downs and broad dimensions.

He was born in Highland Park, Illinois, and thus he was an American

photographer. His mother died when he was five, possibly the reason for his

skipping out of his schooling. At the age of sixteen (1902), his father bought

him a Kodak box camera (Bull?s-Eye No. 2). Soon he was saving money to

buy a better 5x& camera with a tripod. Taking photographs interested and

obsessed him. He wrote, ?I needed no friends now. . .Sundays my camera

and I would take long car-rides into the country. . .?

In 1906, two things happened. First, a submission of his was printed

in the magazine Camera and Darkroom. This photograph was called simply

?Spring?. Secondly, he moved to California to work as a surveyor for San

Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. From that time on, his interests

lied in everything that was unorthodox (astrology, the occult, nudism,

vegetarianism, etc.). Maybe he never was much of an orthodox type man or

photographer.

He went back to Illinois for several months to attend the Illinois

College of Photography. The inspiration behind this was to show his

girlfriend, a daughter of a wealthy land-owner that he?d make money for

them. He then headed back to California for good. This lead to marriage in

1909 and to two sons soon afterwards. During this time, Weston also

became the founding member of the Camera Pictorialists of Los Angeles.

1911: Began a portrait studio in Tropico, California. This studio would

stay open until 1922. Also 1911: He started writing articles that were

published in magazines. One of these magazines was called American

Photographer. His third and fourth sons were born in 1916 and 1919.

Weston had always enjoyed photography as an art, but, in 1915, his

visit to the San Francisco Panama Pacific Exhibition began a series of events

that would lead him to a renouncement of pictorialism. At the exhibition, he

viewed abstract paintings. These caused him to vow to capture ?the physical

quality of the objects he photographed with the sharpest truthfulness and

exactitude?. Thus began a dissatisfaction with his own work.

In 1922, he traveled to Ohio and took photographs of the Armco Steel

Plant and then went to New York. There he met Alfred Stieglitz, Paul

Strand, Charles Sheck and Georgia O?Keefe. After that, he renounced

pictorialism all together.

He often traveled to Mexico during the 1920s, and his photographs

included nudes. One of these nudes, named Tina Modotti, would turn into

his own personal love affair, breaking up his marriage. He made many

photographs in Mexico. Some were published in the book Idols Behind Altars

by Anita Brenner. During this time, he also began to photograph seashells,

vegetables and nudes.

In 1929, his first New York exhibit occurred at the Alma Reed?s Delphic

Studios Gallery and later showed at Harvard Society of Contemporary Arts.

His photographs were shown along with the likes of Walker Evans, Eugene

Atget, Charles Sheeler, Alfred Stieglitz, and many others.

In 1932, he became a Charter member, along with Ansel Adams, of

the ?Group f/64? Club. The club was also founded that same year. The goal

of this club was to ?secure maximum image sharpness of both foreground

and distance?.

In 1934, Weston vowed to make only unretouched portraits. He

strived to be as far away from pictorialism as he could. In 1935, he initiated

the Edward Weston Print of the Month Club. He offered photographs for ten

dollars each. In 1937, he was awarded the first Guggenheim fellowship.

In 1940, a book called California and the West featured his

photographs and the text of Charis Wilson his new wife (not the nude, Tina

Modotti). In 1941, Weston was commissioned by the Limited Editions Club

to illustrate a new edition of Walt Whitman?s Leaves of Grass.

Weston started suffering from Parkinson?s disease in 1946. That same

year the Museum of Modern Art in New York City featured a retrospective of

his work; three hundred prints were on display.

To sort of sign-off from photographing, Weston went to his favorite

photographing spot at Point Lobos. There he would take his last

photographs (1948).

For the next ten years, he supervised his two sons in the printing of

Edward Weston life works. Also, in 1952, he published a Fiftieth Anniversary

Portfolio. He died in 1958 at his home in Carmel.

From his famous studies of the green pepper to his favorite spots at

Point Lobos, Weston was mainly concerned in photographing nature. That?s

why his photographs encompassed still-lifes, seashells, tree stumps, eroded

rocks, female nudes, landscapes, and other natural forms. His 1936

compilation of photographs of California sand dunes is considered by many

to be his finest work.

Many feel he brought ?regeneration? to photography, and maybe he

did. It seems, whether he liked it or not, that pictorialism never left him.

No matter how sharp and truthful his photographs became or were, they

seemed to always have a pictorial feel.

Maybe someday I?ll read through the daily journal he kept, called

Daybooks. It was published, most of it after his death. Maybe then I could

get a feel for what Point Lobos meant and what the shapes of the

vegetables, seashells, and the rolling dunes meant. Maybe I could

understand his obsession with female nudes and their shapes and his brief

period of industrial scenes.

The tale is told. We?ve seen the photographs, few among thousands.

We?ve seen the broad dimensions that encompassed his life. We?ve also

seen the journal, his daily ?pouring out?. It is indeed a true legacy, a legacy

that lives on through the sharp, up close-and personal photographs.

?Biography of Edward Weston?. (1995-99). Internet (http://www.photo

collect.com/bios/weston.html). Photo Collect. Layout and design by

Panorama Point.

Edward Weston: With an Essay by R.H. Cravens. (1988). 1997 Edition.

Aperture Foundation, Inc.

?Weston, Edward (1886-1958)?. (2000). Internet (http://www.orsillo

.com/photographers/edward.htm). Orsillo of Nottingham, New

Hampshire.

?Weston, Edward: American, 1886-1958?. (1986). Internet (http://www.

masters-of-photography.com/w/weston/weston_articles1.html). Text

from The Encyclopedia of Photography.