Edward Weston did not need colour for his expressive photographic work; his pictures are almost exclusively in black and white, and with their unique mix of objectivity, dynamism and poetry, made their creator one of the most important representatives of ‘straight photography’ and thus also one of the most important photo artists of the 20th century.
(...) Continue readingEdward Weston - portrait photographer in California
Edward Weston was born in Illinois on 24 March 1886. He lost his mother at the early of five and his father’s new marriage meant he was brought up by his sister Mary, nine years his elder. He received his first camera, a Kodak Bull’s Eye No. 2, as a gift for his 16th birthday. However, it did not inspire him for long, as shortly afterwards he changed to a large-format camera, with which he quickly celebrated success: as early as 1903, Weston was permitted to exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. Three years late, he followed his sister to California where he set up a studio and worked as a portrait photographer. The portrait technique developed and used by Weston attracted some attention and led to a series of articles written on this theme for various journals. In 1909, Weston married his first wife, Flora May Chandler, and together they had four sons, Chandler, Brett, Neil, and Cole. Brett and Cole Weston were themselves successful as photographers later.
The turn to ‘straight photography’
Edward Weston took a new artistic direction in 1922. Whereas he had hitherto been committed to the generally prevailing thought of pictorialism, he now turned to realism and became a passionate advocate of ‘straight photography’. He moved to Mexico City with his lover Tina Modotti in 1923 and met there the Mexican photographer Manuel lvarez Bravo, expressing sympathies for the Mexican Revolution. Weston was often accompanied by a son on these trips, who in turn received a solid training in photography. Weston also taught his partner Modotti the basics of photography, and in return she had to do the housekeeping. His wife, who had previously to share her husband with the photographer Margarethe Mather, remained with the children in the USA. Weston returned to his family in 1926.
‘Group f/64’ and Guggenheim Fellowship
In 1932, together with other famous photographers such as Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke and Ansel Adams, Edward Weston founded the ‘group f/64’ as an opposing movement to the prevailing pictorialism of the time. Weston was the first ever photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. The financial security this provided and the fact that his sons had now reached adulthood allowed Edward Weston to divorce his first wife and marry his assistant Charis Wilson. Together, they published several books before separating in 1945. Weston loved to bring shapes and details out of landscapes, nudes, and plants in sculptural graduations of light and dark, so that the photographed object almost seemed three-dimensional and real.
Edward Weston became ill with Parkinson’s, leading to the end of his artistic career. The artist died on 1 January 1958 in Carmel. Edward Weston’s life is well documented, for the artist himself kept a detailed diary providing information about his personal life and his artistic development.
Edward Weston - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
