| Edward Weston: Life Work |
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by Onajídé Shabaka - 17 Oct., 2005
Edward Weston: Life Work by Onajídé Shabaka One of the dangers we have in S. Florida is the use of texts alone (for those that actually check books out from the library) for examples of artists’ works. That could be painting, drawing, or photography. Except for the very best reproductions, one is not likely to see all the details and nuances in that published work. A perfect case can be cited during a trip to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and seeing Still Life with Cherries and Peaches, Paul Cézanne, 1883-1887, part of their permanent collection. The work is featured in several art appreciation textbooks, which I used to teach with, as well as slide projected images onto classroom walls. Neither of those sources showed the brush strokes, nuanced color, and underpainting. The same is true of photographer Edward Weston. If you will allow some personal indulgence by myself, I would like to point out another instance. I teach photography and handout one assignment to my intermediate students that requires them study the work of a master photographer, which means heading to the library. My suggestions are always to find something visually simple because trying to reconstruct something like a Peter Joel-Witkin would take more than an entire semester. Anyway, Edward Weston is often cited as one of choice because, as simple as it may seem, it is not. In researching Weston it must be noted the quality of light in his work is more than a challenge for an intermediate level student decipher and recreate. The book of reproductions from the library they use as their source material would have to be very expensive, and reference only, to have the highest quality reproductions.
One student attempted to decipher Weston’s Pepper #30, yet struggled with knowing where or, on what object, that pepper is sitting. I admit having had trouble seeing it myself, until this weekend when I really stopped to study it at the Lowe Art Museum. Not only could it be seen but, one could see the use of the same, or similar, object in several other works. This is another example for visiting museums and seeing the actual works and not textbook reproductions. Although I have seen this and other vintage Weston prints in Carmel, Calif., while a student at Calif. College of the Arts, it has been many years. Today, it would also be very difficult to find a pepper like Pepper #30. Weston lived near Wastonville, California where a majority of vegetables were grown for the U.S. market. Today vegetables have been genetically grown for size and shape, then for taste. Weston's pepper, probably considered a vintage vegetable by today's standards, could not be easily found if he were recreating his image. Part of the wonder and sensuality of his peppers is found in their similarity to the human figure and luscious skin as our eyes wander the lumps and folds of the many vegetables he photographed. The Lowe Art Museum, Univ. of Miami, features vintage prints from all phases of the influential photographer’s outstanding career, Edward Weston: Life Work is organized and circulated by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles (Pasadena, Calif.). All works courtesy of the Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg Collection.
Sometimes we think we know something by sight because we’ve seen it so many times. Pepper #30 is like a Weston signature icon yet, it is doubtful that many of us have seen a vintage print of it or, any of Weston’s images.
Photography is a much about light as anything else and, because Florida’s light is very different than the northern California coast, it is something that one must experience firsthand. NorCal’s many days of overcast or cloudy skies create a perfect environment for outdoor photography with its soft, diffuse light. This part of the U.S. was once called “photographer’s mecca” for that reason. Such was the influence of Weston, Ansel Adams, and many other photographer’s of the "Group f/64." "Group f/64" only met a few times and held only three shows, the first at the de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, in 1932, but its message about pure photography had a great influence.
Long before the peppers and nudes we come to recognize with Weston, he was involved with the Pictorialist style. These early works are probably the ones that will most surprise those that are not familiar with Weston’s work. Some of the most dynamic images were from his time in Mexico during the late 1920s. Weston’s last images were made in 1948. His sons, Brett, Cole, and Neil have all been recognized as fine photographers as well.
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