Edward Weston: Nudes, with original platinum print "Nude, 1920

New York: Aperture, 1977. First edition. Fine. FIRST EDITION OF EDWARD WESTON: NUDES WHICH ELEVATED PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE STATUS OF FINE ART. In 1902 Edward Weston (1886-1958) received a Kodak Box camera from his father and in 1903 dropped out of high school and chose a life in photography. As a young photographer he took mainly portraits and became a student of pictorialism, the dominant style of photography at the time, that prioritized the beauty of the subject matter and composition over reality. Weston was technically skilled, though through his early years he felt artistically uninspired. In 1917 he began jotting down his beliefs about life and the aesthetics of photography explaining that "...the camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh" (Newhall The Daybooks of Edward Weston, 54). By the 1920s Weston moved away from traditional portraiture and pictorialism. He began to develop his own modernist style using a close-up lens, light, shadow and composition to emphasize purity and simplicity. Art historian Nancy Newhall observed that he "used light like a chisel", noting how "the shadow itself...is as active and potent as the light" (Edward Weston's Book of Nudes, 23-24).

Weston's fascination with nudes are a defining characteristic of his evolution as a photographer. His 1977 book Edward Weston: Nudes, which we have on offer, is an impressive and comprehensive compilation of Weston's work in this genre. This deluxe first edition was limited to 350 copies, published almost two decades after Weston's death and is signed by Charis Wilson, his wife from 1939-1946 and his muse for many years. When Wilson and Weston met at a concert in 1934 he was estranged from his first wife. He wrote, "April 22 [1934], a day to always remember. I knew now what was coming; eyes don't lie and she wore no mask... I was lost and have been ever since." He and Wilson moved in together right away and married five years later. Weston considered his relationship with Wilson to be one of the most important in his personal and professional life. According to Weston, "the first nudes of C. [Charis] were easily among the finest I had done, perhaps the finest." Many of the photographs in Edward Weston: Nudes are of Charis Wilson.

After Edward Weston's death in 1958, Wilson began working with Cole, one of Edward's children from his first marriage, to curate this historic compilation of nudes. Cole was Edward's trusted assistant, companion, and archival manager. Wilson was not only Edward's model but also a scribe who recorded their many adventures. Cole and Charis Wilson artfully interspersed excerpts of Edward's writings with the photos; Wilson penned the foreword and afterword of this text.

Edward Weston: Nudes is presented together with an original platinum print of "Nude, 1920," one of Edward Weston's most famous photos. "Nude, 1920" is meticulously composed, using light and shadow to exemplify the human body as a sculptural, abstract form devoid of context or narrative. This work also showcases Weston's use of the platinum printing process, known for its rich, yet subtle, tonal range, which captures the depth and texture of the human form with extraordinary clarity and detail. This print is signed by his son, Cole Weston.

The release of Edward Weston: Nudes in 1977 deepened his reputation as a photography pioneer and together with Alfred Stieglitz elevated photography to the status of fine art (B. Newhall). Prior to the publication of this collection the nude form was often relegated to more commercial and less artistic realms. His ability to portray the nude with a sense of dignity contributed to the broader acceptance of such works in the mainstream. According to Hilton Kramer, art critic for The New York Times, "To Weston's eye... the landscape of the human body was an unending revelation of forms both voluptuous and abstract. His genius as an artist lay in his ability to respond to both with equal passion" (Woodward). Weston's nudes were also uniquely relevant to discussions about the body, identity, and artistic expression that dominated the cultural conversations of the 1970s.
Weston received the first Guggenheim Fellowship ever given to a photographer in 1937 and had a major one-man exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1946. It is this curated collection of Weston's 1920-1945 prints in Edward Weston: Nudes that introduced him to a new generation, and solidified his position as one of the greatest photographers of the twentieth century.

New York: Aperture, 1977. Deluxe first edition, limited to 350 copies, this being number 263. Illustrated from black and white photographs by Weston. Quarto, publisher's beige buckram stamped in gilt, original slipcase. Signed by Charis Wilson on limitation page. Together with an original platinum print photography negative (7 ¼ x 9 ¼") titled "Nude, 1920" by Edward Weston on original mount and matting, signed by Cole Weston in pencil on matting verso, complete with printed glassine title sheet and folder. Both book and print in fine condition. RARE.

References:

Ansel E. Adams, "Photography," The Fortnightly 1:8, 18 December 1931, 21-22.

Beaumont Newhall. The History of Photography from 1839 to the Present. The Museum of Modern Art, 1980.

Nancy Newhall. Edward Weston's Book of Nudes. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2007.

Nancy Newhall, editor. The Daybooks of Edward Weston. Aperture, 1990.

John Szarkowski. "Edward Weston". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Apr. 2024.

David Travis. Edward Weston: The Last Years in Carmel. Art Institute of Chicago, 2001.

Daisy Woodward. "The Edward Weston Nude That Took Photography to New Heights." AnOther Magazine, August 30, 2017.