The first half of the twentieth century was a period of great change in the History of Photography, an era bridging the romantic fairy-tale look of the Pictorialists to the explosion of unique styles and methods of the post-World War II era. One of the most influential artists of this period was Edward Weston.

Edward Henry Weston was born in Highland Park, Illinois on March 24, 1886. He graduated from Oakland Grammar School in 1903 – he had a lifelong distaste for school and authority in general, and according to R.H. Cravens,  once remarked: “(school) is a good place to train and mold the minds of those who are to be the slaves of the world.

He received his first camera as a gift from his father, a Physician, a year earlier. He was immediately hooked. He exhibited his photographs only one year later, in 1903, at the Art Institute of Chicago. Not bad for a seventeen year old with one year of shooting experience!

In 1906 he went to California to visit his sister, and decided to stay. He worked various jobs, including working as a railroad surveyor. He decided to become a professional photographer and started using a postcard camera to sell pictures door to door. In 1908, realizing that he needed education to continue his career as a photographer, he returned to Chicago and attended the Illinois College of Photography in Effington, completing the twelve month course in six.

Returning to California he spent one year as a darkroom assistant, a job he disliked at the time but in later years realized it’s value. In 1909 he married Flora Chandlers, a woman considerably above his “station” – a daughter of a wealthy land owning family in Southern California. They settled on Tropico (now Glendale), where he opened his own photography studio. They eventually had four sons: Chandler, Brett, Neil and Cole. Two of his sons (Brett and Cole) became photographers, as well as one of his grandchildren.

This is an example of Weston’s work at this time – Violet Romer as Psyche, 1915. As can be seen, this is straight up Pictorialism. Soft light, soft focus, staged as a painting, and dealing with a classical theme. Violet Romer was a minor stage actor at this time, Psyche a human turned god (due to her beauty, which captivated Cupid), here listening to a reed.

In the late teens Weston began to experiment with the “Straight Photography” of Alfred Steiglitz. He began using sharp focus. 1922 was a pivotal year for Weston. He went back east to visit a sister in Ohio, and took a series of photographs at the Armco Steel plant in Middleton, Ohio. He continued on to New York where he met Steiglitz, Paul Strand, Georgia O’Keefe andother members of the Photo-secessionists. This appears to have been a somewhat strained meeting. The following photograph of the Armco Steel Mills was taken on this trip. I find it hard to imagine that this photograph was taken by the same individual who did Violet Romer as Psyche – incredibly sharp detail, perfect focus, an abstract image of industry with seven smokestacks lined up like giant steps!

Weston lived the life of a typical California Bohemian artist during the twenties and thirties – he was “into” many things, including, for example, vegetarianism and nudism. However, he never committed one hundred percent to anything.

He also never committed one hundred percent to any one woman. He had many affairs during his life. He only remained married to Flora for as long as he did because of his sons and her money. They finally divorced in 1937.

During the 1920′s Weston spent several years on two different occasions in Mexico, with his mistress Tina Modotti (a great photographer in her own right). He opened a studio in Mexico City in 1923. Here he met many of the artists of the “Mexican Renaissance” including Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, and Jose Orozco. He returned to California in 1927.

In 1929 he moved to Caramel, where he engaged in studies of seashells, vegetables, nudes, and abstract landscapes. In 1932 he was one of the principle founders of Group f/64, along with Ansel Adams and others. This group of photographers was named after the smallest aperture of a view camera, which gave the greatest depth of field. They also advocated no alteration of images, except for the alteration of tones in the darkroom. I find this strictness of rules, with one “exception” to be a little high-handed.

This photograph, Pepper No. 30, (1930) is the most popular of Weston’s works and a perfect example of his mature style. It is abstract, a simple vegetable (later consumed by Weston himself). However it is sensuous in form and exhibits an incredible range of tones. After much experimentation he ended up putting it in a metal pipe or bucket to get the lighting effect he wanted.

He worked briefly for the WPA in 1934. In 1936 he began a series of nudes at the Sand Dunes near Oceano, which many feel represents some of his finest work. That same year he became the first photographer to win a Guggenheim fellowship. He used this money in part to travel the west taking photographs, including a series used in a new illustrated edition of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.”

Around 1946 Weston began to show the signs of Parkinson’s disease. He took his last photograph at Point Lobos, a favorite shooting spot of his, in 1948 (Rocks and Pebbles, 1948). During the early to mid-1950′s he had his sons Brett and Cole print what he considered his greatest photographs. In 1956 the Smithsonian Institution hosted a show “The World of Edward Weston” to pay tribute to the man. Edward Weston died on January 1st, 1958 at his home on Wildcat Hill in Carmel, California.

What strikes me most about Edward Weston is the development of his style over the course of his career. This is clearly seen with only the three photographs included in this essay. I wish I could have included a hundred! He had a great influence on his contemporaries, meeting Steiglitz, working with Adams in Group f/64 – Dorothea Lange even helped him with his Guggenheim application in the 1930′s! His print, “Nude – 1925″ sold for a record 1.6 million dollars at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in April, 2008. There’s a wealth of information on Weston on the web, and I have found that a good many of my fellow photographers here in Batavia admire him as well. Edward Weston was a pivotal figure in the development of photography in the early to mid twentieth century and continues to awe and inspire photographers and viewers today.

Bibliography

Cravens, Richard H. Edward Weston. New York: Aperture, 1997.

Weston, Cole. “Edward Weston Biography.” Edward-Weston.com viewed 15 Feb 2009 http://www.edward-weston.com/edward_weston_biography.htm

Weston, Edward, and Ben Maddow. Edward Weston, His Life and Photographs: The Definitive Volumes of his Photographic Work. Millerton, N.Y.: Aperture, 1979.

Weston, Edward, Nancy Wynne Newhall, and Brett Abbott. Edward Weston’s Book of Nudes. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum in association with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, 2007.

Hirsch, Robert. Seizing the Light: A Social History of Photography. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009.

Nyerges, Alexander Lee. “Edward Weston: Lover of Life.” Weston Photography © 2004, viewed 14 Feb 2009 http://www.kimweston.com/edward_weston/edward_weston_biography.htm

Stebbins, Theodore E., Jr., Karen Quinn and Leslie Furth. Edward Weston: photography and modernism. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts: Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown, 1999.