Edward Weston
Description
From nudes to landscapes, a wide-ranging retrospective of the work of Edward Weston, one of the greatest twentieth-century American photographers. This gorgeous volume shows the work of one of the major twentieth-century artists whose output has influenced the very conception of photography for generations to come. After abandoning pictorial photography, Weston turned his interest in the direction of realism, developing his own original style based on the quest for a pure form to express his contemporary world. He believed that the world around him, whether it be the face of a woman, a place, or a vegetable, did not require special devices to be recorded: in fact, he felt that it is inside the mind that things become proud-looking sculptures, objects that seem to come to life on their own. This thoughtful selection of 110 photographs is an eloquent testimony to Weston’s teachings, bearing witness to the experiences that contributed to making him the artist he was: from his interest in modernism and cubism to his years in Mexico, where he shared the echoes of European surrealism with the local artists; from his decision to move to Point Lobos, a location that was of crucial importance to the development of his vision of the landscape, to his intense relationships with women who were his muses and companions in his everyday life as well as in his photography.
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Published Reviews
Publisher's Weekly Review
This gorgeous monograph, edited by researcher Maggia (New Photography in Britain), featuring an essay by Chiara Dall'Olio and published on the occasion of an exhibition mounted by Modena, Italy's Fondazione Fotographia, celebrates the famed American photographer's oeuvre with a selection of images from his career. Weston (1886-1958) was a fierce proponent of realism in photography, arguing, "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 palpating flesh." The photographs here are closely cropped and sharply focused; through Weston's lens, vegetables, bodies, skyscrapers, and landscapes are stripped of visual context and become wondrous and strange. Photographs taken miles and decades apart are paired to emphasize the architectural, textural, and tonal resonances that caught Weston's eye: a swooping cloud mimics an arching aqueduct; Henry Fonda with his arms akimbo echoes the v-shaped eaves of a half-destroyed house; striations on a sand dune resemble the hatchings on a melon's skin. These witty juxtapositions testify to the transformative power of Weston's vision, and his desire to depict forms of "universal appeal... [that indicate] or symbolize life rhythms." 110 duotone illus. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
This gorgeous monograph, edited by researcher Maggia (New Photography in Britain), featuring an essay by Chiara Dall'Olio and published on the occasion of an exhibition mounted by Modena, Italy's Fondazione Fotographia, celebrates the famed American photographer's oeuvre with a selection of images from his career. Weston (1886–1958) was a fierce proponent of realism in photography, arguing, "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 palpating flesh." The photographs here are closely cropped and sharply focused; through Weston's lens, vegetables, bodies, skyscrapers, and landscapes are stripped of visual context and become wondrous and strange. Photographs taken miles and decades apart are paired to emphasize the architectural, textural, and tonal resonances that caught Weston's eye: a swooping cloud mimics an arching aqueduct; Henry Fonda with his arms akimbo echoes the v-shaped eaves of a half-destroyed house; striations on a sand dune resemble the hatchings on a melon's skin. These witty juxtapositions testify to the transformative power of Weston's vision, and his desire to depict forms of "universal appeal... or symbolize life rhythms." 110 duotone illus. (Sept.)
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