Edward Weston: Masters of Photography Series

Great book, very useful survey of a great photographer. format a little small, so not really a coffee table book. Never the less it is a good introduction to Weston and the variety of his work.

This is a nice, small, inexpensive collection of some of Weston's work. It is inexpensive enough I can loan it out and not be concerned if it doesn't return. The text is mostly in German? but that is okay since I bought it for the pictures anyway.

Try not to be put off by the horrifyingly ugly cover of this book. What's important is its exploration of something we now take for granted: the ability of a photograph to go past the 'whatisit'stage and to celebrate pure form. This is so much a part of our world that it has become a staple in advertising and a cliche in photos of the nude. So it's easy to forget that formalism was once a radical idea that steered photography away from pictorialism and into a truly modern sensibility. It's also easy to forget that it's not easy to carry off a true celebration of form: it requires technique so perfect that it disappears. Edward Weston was both a pioneer and a master of formalism in black and white photography and this book is a good, small-format summation of his efforts. Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANG: A Novel

This book will appeal to all of those who appreciate high quality reproductions of Edward Weston's finest works. Dunes, cypress, nudes, and portraits are all conjured up by the name of Edward Weston, and each is well represented in this gorgeous volume. Before going into a description of this book, let me further caution those of you who do not know Edward Weston that he much favored nude photographs of women and had intimate relations with many women in his life which are described in Terence Pitts' interesting essay. If such things offend you, I suggest that you avoid this volume."Edward understood thoughts and concepts that dwell on simple mystical levels." -- Ansel AdamsIt is appropriate that this volume contains some comments by Ansel Adams about Edward Weston. The two have many similarities in their work, and were friends. Both were attracted to the underlying grandeur of nature, and looked for the connectedness in all things (a sort of fractal-based perspective on unity). Weston was especially successful in integrating images of people with his nature images. The works speak for themselves. "Edward Weston, contrary to so many now practicing photography, never verbalized on his own work." -- Ansel AdamsThe potential for each of us from considering these images is very great from Adams' point of view. "You might discover, through Edward Weston's work, how basically good you are, or might become."Edward Weston was formally trained to be a studio photographer, and soon sought to escape the limitations of doing commercial portraits. He was very skilled in this area, and there was always demand for his work. After 1930, he was able to stop retouching portraits which was a great relief to him. Nature always fascinated him, and in the latter part of his life he was able to focus on the potential of his work rather than on eking out a living. In the 1930s he received the first Guggenheim Fellowship to travel for photography, and made good use of this to see locales he would not otherwise have reached. Weston's influence is important in the 20th century for establishing photography as an art, rather than as representation.Weston did his best work in California and Mexico, where he traveled extensively. I was also impressed with his industrial photography, which I had not seen much of before. He had an amazing eye for form in industrial settings and in designs of mundane objects.The images here are well reproduced in almost all cases, and the size of the pages is excellent for the images involved. Here are my favorites from the images in this superb book:Epilogue 1919Sunny Corner in an Attic 1920Ruth Shaw 1922Armco Steel 1922Lois Kellog 1923 Rose Roland, Mexico 1926Shell 1927Shells 1927Cabbage Leaf 1931Cypress Root, Seventeen Mile Drive 1929Cypress Root and Succulents, Point Lobos 1930Bedpan 1930Charis 1934Sheels and Hill, San Juan 1934Dunes (5), Oceano, 1936Iceberg Lake 1937Juniper, Lake Tenaya 1937Nude (#4 and #5) Oceano 1

An excellent and well documented introduction to Weston's oeuvre and philosophy. One of the true and underrated innovators in photography. If you love Adams, Depardon or Cartier Bresson's landscapes,welcome home ! Some stunning pictures of the desert. Very very good repro quality. Buy with confidence.