Product Description

Edward Weston (1886–1958) is one of the seminal figures of twentieth-century photography. An exponent of ‘straight photography’, Weston was committed to making photographs ‘free from technical tricks and incoherent emotionalism’ which were able to capture the essence of the subject. His series of self-portraits, nudes, landscapes and close-up still-lifes defined modernist photography in their formal elegance, simplicity and abstraction. The first photographer to win a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1937, Weston is among the most influential figures in the history of photography.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #217035 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

About the Author
Amy Conger is the foremost authority on Edward Weston, specialising particularly in Weston's work in Mexico and his collaboration with Tina Modotti. Conger is the editor of the vast catalogue of the Weston archive at the Collection of the Center of Creative Photography in Arizona. Author's residence: Riverside, California

Customer Reviews

Beautiful B&W
Amy Conger has produced a beautiful collection of Weston's photos, selected form about 25 years of his work. As the title suggests, most of these are wonderful figure studies. The remaining few are still-lifes or landscapes. Many of these, like the shells p.48, pepper p.69, or radish p.74 present the same curves and compositions as his nudes.

In part, these help to bring out a geometric contrast that seemed to fascinate Weston: the merger of flowing curves of figure with harsher, angular geometries. One (p.70) creates a square frame of crossed arms containing the roundness of the model's breasts. Others show the elegant gawkiness of knees and elbows (p.75, 91), or the columnar architecture (p.77) of the body's supporting members. Two photos (pp. 102, 103) present a generously rounded black model, coincidentally named Weston - just enough to leave me hoping for more, in contrast to Weston's more common work with slender, light-skinned women.

Although I enjoy this book immensely, one thing about it baffles me. For some reason, Conger's publisher chose to use the same format and cover photo (Nude, Bertha Wardell) as a much earlier book by Charis Wilson - something that could easily fool potential readers into mistaking one for the other. It's not that Conger was unaware of Wilson's book, in fact Conger notes it in her bibliography. I guess I'll never know.

Or need to. It's a great collection anyway. Conger's brief biographical note at the beginning (echoed in Spanish at the end) was helpful, but the pictures truly speak for themselves.

//wiredweird