20th Century Photography: The Emergence of Modernism—December 6, 2023 | John Moran Auctioneers

20th Century Photography: The Emergence of Modernism Wednesday, December 6, 2023

SINCE 1969

AUCTIONEERS & APPRAISERS

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20th Century Photography: The Emergence of Modernism l Wednesday, December 6, 2023

20th Century Photography: The Emergence of Modernism Wednesday, December 6, 2023—10am PST

Featuring property from the estate of Frederick W. Davis and Dr. Amy Conger

Sale 273 145 East Walnut Avenue, Monrovia CA 91016

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SINCE 1969

AUCTIONEERS & APPRAISERS

Edward Weston & Fred Davis: A Meeting In Mexico

by Beth Gates Warren During the early 1920s, dozens of American artists and writers sailed for Paris, hoping to forget the horrors of the First World War and the lethal influenza pandemic. Most of all, they were searching for a place that might inspire them to create a new aesthetic vision. But for photographer Edward Weston, that inspirational place was not Paris. It was Mexico City.

When Weston, age thirty-seven, departed Glendale, California, for Mexico in August 1923, he was setting himself adrift, literally and intentionally. Accompanying him on his journey were his current love interest, Tina Modotti, and his eldest son, thirteen-year-old Chandler Weston. A long voyage and multiple train rides eventually brought them to Mexico City, where Weston believed he would find a more appreciative audience for his talents. He was basing this conviction on the success of a group exhibition held in Mexico City a few months earlier, during which his photographs had garnered considerable praise in the local press. He was also looking forward to solidifying his relationship with Modotti, even though he continually assured his estranged wife, Flora Chandler, that the beautiful, Italian-born, former actress was merely his dedicated acolyte and darkroom assistant.

The first few weeks were difficult. Weston spoke no Spanish, and he foolishly chose to rent a house that lacked telephone service and was a forty-minute streetcar ride from downtown Mexico City.1 A move to a second rental closer to the business district also proved unsatisfactory.2 Finally, in mid-May 1924, the trio found a third location near Chapultepec Park that, despite considerable traffic noise, was a perfect fit for their needs.3 Their new apartment occupied the entire second floor of a small commercial building shaped like a ship’s prow, and it quickly became the scene of much activity as Weston and Modotti’s social circle expanded to include an array of noteworthy people, one of whom was Fred Davis.

The interior courtyard of the Frederick W. Davis home in Cuernavaca.

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Based on Weston’s journal entries, his first encounter with Davis took place in late August 1924, while he and Modotti were visiting the city of Cuernavaca and staying in the home of a woman Weston had recently photographed. Davis also owned a residence there and he apparently invited them to tour his garden where Weston photographed a statuesque palm tree.4 Although it is not clear who introduced the two men, the American expatriate communities in both Mexico City and Cuernavaca were very aware of Davis’ reputation as a highly regarded businessman and collector of Mexican art and handicrafts, so it was almost inevitable that he and Weston would meet.

Frederick Walter Davis was born in Gilman, Illinois in April 1878, eight years prior to Edward Weston’s birth in Highland Park, Illinois in March 1886.5 According to various documents, Davis spent his entire childhood in the burg of Gilman, about ninety miles southwest of Chicago. He was the youngest of eleven children, and during his adolescence he seems to have developed a fascination with train travel, probably due to the two railroad lines that intersected in Gilman. Like the cardinal points on a compass, the tracks stretched due east, west, north, and south, and when it came time for Davis to jettison his small-town life, with all its tribulations and prejudices, he chose to head south.6

Frederick W. Davis

Not surprisingly, his first job was on a train— selling newspapers, candy, guidebooks, maps, and souvenirs to rail passengers. As an employee of the Sonora News Company (recently founded by an American based in Mexico), Davis’ “hawking” route was the Southern Pacific Railway line that connected Nogales, Arizona, to Guadalajara, Mexico.7 In 1899, at the age of twenty-one, Davis relocated to Mexico City where he continued working for the fast-growing firm, now headquartered in an elegant, six-story building at Calle de Gante 4 in the heart of the bustling city. 8 The large Sonora News Company store, which occupied the building’s ground floor, specialized in offering a wide array of merchandise to the tourist trade, and Davis made himself at home in rooms above the store. According to period advertisements, visitors could buy “linens with hand-drawn threadwork, colorful serapes, carved leather, feather cards, opals, filigree, guidebooks, carved canes, fans, souvenir spoons, mantillas, and rebozos.” For more prosperous travelers, there were “Old Master paintings; bronze, marble, and ivory objects; fine porcelain and crystal ware; jewels and medallions; Empire and Spanish furniture; tapestries, rugs, embroideries, shawls, and vestments; Toltec, Aztec, and Tarascan relics; and prints, books, and engravings.”9 In due time, items of “gringo” clothing were also added to the mix.

Realizing there was an ever-increasing demand for items superior to the usual tourist fare, Davis traveled throughout Mexico in search of talented regional artisans who were creating unique crafts of the highest caliber. His business acumen and interest in Mexican culture and craftsmanship led to his w w w. j o h n m o r a n . c o m

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rapid rise through the ranks of the Sonora News Company and when the firm began opening additional retail shops in various locations, he was appointed treasurer. By the time he met Weston in 1924, he was also managing the store’s clothing department as well as a shop dedicated to Mexican paintings and crafts located in the historic Hotel Iturbide at Madero 17. Because of Davis’ efforts to locate and elevate the quality of these items, he was already well-known for his expertise and sagacity, so it was not unusual for American and European visitors to seek him out with questions about the authenticity, quality, rarity, and monetary value of objects they wished to acquire. Soon his clientele included multimillionaires Edward Doheny and William Randolph Hearst, who often made purchases from Davis while their chauffeur-driven cars waited on the street.10 Despite Davis’ many connections within expatriate and artistic circles, his name appears only a halfdozen times in Weston’s journals. In the first of these instances, Weston refers to him rather formally as “Mr. Fred Davis,” suggesting that he was merely a casual acquaintance. Very soon, however, Davis would play an important role in Weston’s life. The photographer’s second solo exhibition in Mexico City opened on October 15, 1924, and it attracted considerable attention. Ten days later, Weston recorded in his journal: “Dr. Peter who has been my best patron in Mexico, bought from the wall Piramide del Sol for 30.00 [pesos]. Mr. Fred Davis, in whose Cuernavaca garden I photographed the great Palm, purchased a copy for the same amount.”11 The exhibition closed on Saturday, November 1, and the following Monday Weston added: “After experiencing the ever-recurrent condition of being ‘broke,’ I have sold two prints: ‘Palma Cuernavaca’, and a nude; besides, I have four definite dates for sittings. Such prosperity is overwhelming!”12 Weston and his son were then preparing for a long-postponed visit to California. After living in Mexico for fourteen months, Weston was homesick and anxious to depart but embarrassed at the thought of returning home in his worn-out attire. Knowing he could not afford to purchase new clothes and sensing that Davis might be interested in acquiring more of his work, Weston formulated a brash plan. He approached Davis with a proposition that involved bartering his photographs for items of clothing. To his astonishment, Davis immediately agreed, an unexpectedly generous gesture that meant Weston could replace his shabby garments and leave for California looking far more affluent than he really was. On November 11, 1924, Weston was appreciative: “Mr. Fred Davis of the ‘Sonora News Co.’ is…. a ‘good scout’ for when I boldly suggested, in desperation over my ragged clothes, that I would exchange photographs for clothing from his store, he fell in with the plan at once. ‘Get what you wish,’ he said. ‘The more you take the better I shall like it.’ I came away with new pyjamas [sic], shoes, hat, suit, neckties, amounting to 200 pesos.”13 About two weeks later, Weston and Modotti were invited to a “studio tea” at Davis’ Mexico City apartment. Although Weston found him to be “a genial host” who served “delicious food and drink,” he also declared that Davis’ residence was full of “many beautiful things” along with “an 6

Frederico Davis / Arte Popular Mexicano, Mexico City Photographer: Fot. Melhado / 16 Sepbre. 18 / Mexico D.F.

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overwhelming number of bad ones.” This was a rather surprising remark, considering his host’s stature as a man of discernment. Of course, compared to Davis’ obvious financial success, Weston was barely able to pay his rent each month, so perhaps traces of envy and resentment colored his assessment.

Indeed, he went on to concede that he was feeling out of sorts: “I am impatient, I cannot enjoy social gatherings; the meeting with a few friends, one or two at a time, is the only form of contact that appeals to me.”14 Nevertheless, by December 2, Weston’s gloom had turned to elation: “After ordering prints on our exchange, amounting to 230 pesos, Mr. Fred Davis intimated that he would like at least four or five more prints, so I shall have clothing to the value of some 380 pesos. Good luck indeed!”15 A week later, Weston engaged in another bartering session: “To Fred Davis yesterday with a portfolio of photographs for a last exchange. He took 190 pesos worth. I returned with clothing for Chandler to the value of 70 pesos, and there is now a tidy sum left for Tina and myself. Chandler and I will return to California looking quite prosperous.” Once again, however, Weston was critical of Davis’ taste: “Fred Davis thinks he has a wonderful collection of my work, —he has not. His selections were from my unimportant prints. He invariably passed by unconsidered my best things. I shall have to reprint but a few from out the entire exchange of 420 pesos worth of photos. I am sad and glad!”16 Very likely, Weston was disappointed that Davis had chosen to acquire several of the photographs he had taken in California, instead of his “best things” created since his arrival in Mexico (like many artists, Weston was convinced that his recent work was always superior to his earlier efforts.)

Weston and his son departed for California on December 27, 1924, leaving behind some unfinished business with Davis. Three days into their journey, Modotti wrote Weston that she had “delivered the proofs to Mr. Davis which he liked very much—I think he will order three or four judging from his talk—However nothing was said about the pending bill and I did not think it my place to mention it first. He was lovely and cordial as ever.”17 It is not known who was in debt to whom but there was obviously an unpaid balance involved.

Following an eight-month interlude in California, Weston finally came back to Mexico City in August 1925, this time accompanied by his second son, Brett, who had taken Chandler’s place. In October, Weston recorded another exchange with Davis: “Brett at thirteen years, wanted a cane! Last night I got him one, incidentally a new one for myself, of ebony, —another trade with Mr. Davis. A great event this first stick! —the selection an occasion for prolonged and profound deliberation, though I should confess that my own consideration of shape, size, surface was quite as extended!”18 The following month, Weston and Modotti were invited to spend a few days at Davis’ house in Cuernavaca.

Accompanying them were Brett, Modotti’s sister Mercedes, and journalist Carleton Beals.19 During their stay, Weston made a second image of the impressive palm tree he had photographed the previous year. Back in his Mexico City studio, he memorialized their Cuernavaca holiday in a brief journal entry.20 It was also the last time he mentioned Fred Davis, although he eliminated the title “Mr.,” perhaps indicating that the two men had moved beyond their purely transactional relationship to become friends. One year later, Weston would return to California permanently, relegating Modotti and his memories of Mexico to the past. Nevertheless, his experiences there had sharpened his eye and strengthened his resolve to create straightforward, bold, truthful photographs in a modernist idiom.

Meanwhile, Fred Davis would continue collecting and promoting the artists and crafts of Mexico for the rest of his life. Around 1927, he hired Weston’s friend, Austrian-born Rene d’Harnoncourt, as his assistant and for the next six years d’Harnoncourt would help Davis acquire and sell art objects as well as organize displays in the Sonora News Company’s showrooms and assemble traveling exhibitions of Mexican paintings and crafts.21 It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and a remarkable career for d’Harnoncourt, who would later become director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Another of Davis’ friends was former architect William Spratling, whose innovative jewelry designs were made into silver jewelry by artisans in nearby Taxco. Recognizing another career opportunity for talented Mexican craftsmen, Davis began designing his own line of jewelry and training local silversmiths. Often his designs featured cabochon amethysts, turquoise, and obsidian—all natural materials found in Mexico.22 Davis also maintained a warm friendship with Tina Modotti until 1930 when she was deported from Mexico for political reasons. w w w. j o h n m o r a n . c o m

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Eventually Davis took over the management of the entire group of Sonora News Company stores, but around 1934 he left to join Sanborns, another retail operation founded in 1903 by two brothers from San Francisco. 23 His change of employers gave Davis the freedom to open a shop under his own name and devote all his time and attention to Mexican paintings, antiquities, and crafts for the next dozen years. In 1946, Sanborns was sold to Walgreen’s and Davis took the opportunity to retire at the age of sixty-eight.24 However, he never lost his desire to acquire the best examples of Mexican paintings and crafts (soon to be known as “folk art”). He frequently opened his homes in Mexico City and Cuernavaca to private collectors and museum curators, and the names of visitors recorded in his guestbooks attest to the wide array of notable people—entertainers, artists, authors, politicians, and academics—who enjoyed his hospitality.25 In 1951, Davis was instrumental in founding the Museo Nacional de Artes e Industrials Populares, a museum of Mexican folk art and antiquities located in the former Corpus Christi Church on Avenida Juarez opposite the Alameda.26 After overseeing the early years of the fledgling museum, which presumably included numerous objects from his own collection, Davis’ friend Dr. Daniel Rubin de la Borbolla, a former director of Mexico’s Museo Nacional de Antropologia, took over that responsibility.27 As the years passed, Davis became concerned about the fate of his collection and he began looking for a way to preserve it for posterity. On August 12, 1957, the Latin American/English edition of Time magazine reported that the Mexican government had agreed to buy a large portion of Davis’ collection, with “the exception of his books, paintings by Orozco and Siqueiros and other contemporary art,” which Davis wanted to keep. According to the Time article, government experts were in the process of “tabulating each item to fix a price (estimated total: $40,000),” and a new addition to the Museo Nacional de Artes e Industrials Populares would be built to house the collection. 28 In September, an article in Mexico/This Month made the official announcement: “The finest collection of Mexican folk art in existence has just found a permanent—and logical—home in the National Museum of Popular Arts. This is the famous Fred Davis collection, consisting of superb examples of some three hundred years of craftsmanship, carefully chosen through a lifetime of devoted study of the crafts.”29 The solution to Davis’ problem came at the right time because soon after he entered his eighth decade his health began to decline precipitously. In March 1960, a letter from Robert Charles Hill, then serving as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, conveyed his dismay upon learning that Davis was unwell.

Hill also expressed his appreciation that Davis’ extensive collection was now owned by the Mexican government.30 In Ambassador Hill’s note, he especially lauded the exemplary role Davis had played as a representative of the United States:

Dear Fred: I have learned that you have not been well and I am sincerely sorry to hear this. We need you and your invaluable support in the daily job of propagating understanding and good relations between the United States and Mexico.

No one has done more for this great objective than you and I can attest from my experience during the past three years in Mexico to the fact that literally hundreds of cognizant people have spoken to me and to other Embassy officers in appreciation of your work and influence toward reviving the lost arts that made up the ancient cultures of this fascinating land.

The “Museo de Arte Popular” is striking testimony to your great contribution and there could be no finer gesture on the part of a citizen of the U.S.A. than through the gift to the Mexican government of your priceless collection of ecclesiastical vestments, artefacts and other examples of the early culture of Mexico.

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I have often said that the most effective Ambassador of the U.S.A. is the American citizen abroad who so lives as to demand the regard and respect of the country in which he is a guest.

You have fulfilled this role in a magnificent way. Mexico and its people have reason to and do possess deep regard, respect, and more—affection for you, and I might say further that your own country as well has reason to be most grateful to you.

Fred Davis died of heart failure on March 7, 1961, just one month shy of his eighty-third birthday and a little more than three years after Edward Weston’s demise from Parkinson’s disease on January 1, 1958.31 Following Weston’s return to California in November 1926, he, too, had gone on to an illustrious career, achieving recognition as one of the most important photographers of the 20th century. Although Weston and Davis crossed paths only briefly, both men proved to be extraordinary in their vision and determination to excel. About five years after Davis’ death, much of what remained in his estate (including eight of the photographs he had acquired from Weston) was put into storage boxes. Family members, two generations removed from Davis, recently rediscovered the boxes and decided to sell the eight Edward Weston photographs, which are described below.

Fred Davis in his library, Mexico City

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Amy Conger: A Life of Art, Advocacy, and Friendship Dr. Amy Conger was renowned as the foremost authority on the legendary photographer Edward Weston. According to photo-historian Beth Gates Warren, “Amy Conger was a scholar whose research and writing established a standard within the history of photography that all subsequent researchers and writers have struggled to match. She was tireless in her research, interviewing dozens of people, reading countless letters and newspaper articles, and summarizing her findings in essays and books that formed a firm foundation on which additional scholarship has since been based. Her book Edward Weston: Photographs from the Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, published more than thirty years ago, is still the most important reference on Weston.”

Education played a pivotal role in Amy’s life. She earned her MA in Art History from the University of Iowa and went on to achieve a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of New Mexico. Amy’s thirst for knowledge and her passion for teaching ed her to universities both in the United States and abroad.

She resided in both Chile and Italy, contributing her wisdom to students around the world.

In 1974, while teaching art history at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela in Chile, Amy found herself arrested and detained as a political prisoner by the military regime of Augusto Pinochet.

Two weeks of starvation and torture couldn’t break her spirit, and through the efforts of the State Department, she was ultimately freed. Amy’s resilience led her to speak openly about the brutal Pinochet regime, sharing her traumatic experience in interviews with notable figures like Barbara Walters and Studs Terkel.

Amy’s legendary tenacity didn’t stop there. She channeled her energies into working with Amnesty International, advocating for countless prisoners of conscience worldwide. In 2000, her efforts bore fruit when she and her husband were flown to Taiwan to witness the inauguration of Annette Lu, a former political prisoner whom Amy had played a significant role in liberating, as Lu became the country’s Vice President.

Linoleum cut from Dr. Conger

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Amy Conger bookplate designed by Rockwell Kent

The heart of Amy’s extraordinary life, however, was her vast and diverse circle of friends. They hailed from every corner of the globe, reflecting a rich tapestry of cultures and backgrounds. From the owner of a moving company who found his passion for photography to the Zimbabwean rebel in exile, whose paths crossed with Amy during her time in Chicago in the ‘70s, her friends were as unique as they were unforgettable. Amy’s warmth, charm, tenacity, and diverse life experiences left an indelible mark on everyone she met.

Amy’s dedication extended beyond her social circles. She was an active, long-time member of the First Congregational Church, where she devoted her time to Project Food, an initiative providing weekly meals for the homeless. Additionally, she served as the church historian and on the Mission Board, leaving a lasting legacy of service beyond just her academic achievements, which were vast and exceptional. w w w. j o h n m o r a n . c o m

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Let’s Play Hookey,” 1911 Platinum print on paper mounted to a thin brown board mount Signed lower right in pencil on the mount, lower right: E. Weston; dated on the image lower right; signed again in pencil, on the mount, verso Image/Sheet: 6” H x 4.5” W; Mount: 9” H x 6.25” W $8,000-12,000 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger Literature: Karen Haas, Edward Weston: The Early Years (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2018), plate. 15.

American Photography, November 1912, Vol. VI, No. 11, plate 643.

American Annual of Photography, 1914, 61.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Enrique,” 1919 Palladium print on paper Unsigned Image/Sheet: 9.5” H x 7.125” W; Mount: 20” H x 16” W $1,000-1,500 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger Literature: Conger 34/1919 Karen Haas, “Edward Weston: The Early Years” (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2018), plate 52.

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Bathing Pool Edward Weston, 1919 Weston took his photograph Bathing Pool in 1919 during a visit to the home of author and lecturer Paul Jordan Smith and his wife Sarah Bixby Smith. Their residence on East 6th Street in Claremont, California, had formerly housed Dr. W. E. Garrison’s Claremont School for Boys. In the basement was a large swimming pool that Garrison had promoted as a necessary feature for the proper growth and development of his young students. When Garrison’s lease ended in 1917, the Smiths began renovating the building and landscaping the twenty-acre property that surrounded it. One year later they moved in, along with Sarah’s five children from her previous marriage and, occasionally, they were joined by Paul’s three children from his earlier marriage. Weston soon became a frequent visitor and it was on one of those occasions that he created at least four images of nude male figures posed around the swimming pool. Bathing Pool features an older boy standing in profile while a younger boy sits at the edge of the pool, dangling his feet over the water. There are conflicting reports regarding the two boys’ identities because their facial features are not clearly distinguishable. Relatives of Paul Jordan Smith have identified them as Paul’s sons, Wilbur (age 13) and Ralph (age 11). Others believe the boys were Sarah’s son, Llewellyn (age 16) and Edward Weston’s eldest son, Chandler (age 9).32 Still others have identified the boys as Edward’s two eldest sons, Chandler (age 9) and Brett (age 8).33 The swimming pool photographs are unlike any Weston had previously taken. Asymmetrically balanced, with an emphasis on geometry and angles, shadows, and reflections, they represent a rather sudden and remarkable addition to Weston’s aesthetic vocabulary. Very likely this surprising development came about as the result of a lecture he attended in June 1919. At that time, Professor Arthur Wesley Dow, a renowned art teacher from New York City’s Columbia University, was in Los Angeles to discuss and exhibit examples of his design theories based on the Japanese concept of Notan. This design philosophy involved the precise placement of light and dark elements within a composition, while relying entirely on asymmetry to balance them. Weston had long been aware of Dow’s teachings, but after hearing the professor speak in person, he seems to have experienced an epiphany of sorts. Almost immediately he began to incorporate Dow’s design principles into his own work.34 In Bathing Pool Weston combines the dreamlike sensuality of the two boys with the softly defined angles of the rectangular pool and the arrangement of real and reflected architectural elements depicted in various intensities of gray, deliberately creating an image that perfectly illustrates Professor Dow’s design theories. The swimming pool photographs are also prime examples of the type of softfocus, romantic photography known as Pictorialism that Weston was then championing. A few weeks later, in September-October 1919, Weston exhibited a print of Bathing Pool for the first time at the London Salon of Photography. The same image was subsequently shown at the Scottish National Photographic Salon in December-January 1919-1920;35 the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, in February-March 1920; and at the Society of Copenhagen Amateur Photographers in Denmark in August-September 1920.36 Of special interest is the “Kobenhavns Fotografiske Amatorklub” on the verso of the mount, indicating that this print is the same one Weston exhibited in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1920.

Prints of this image are quite rare.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Bathing Pool,” 1919 Palladium print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Signed, titled, and dated in pencil at the lower edge of the mount: Edward Weston; signed and titled again, numbered, inscribed, and with the purple Københavns Fotografiske Amatør-Klub ink stamp (Denmark), all verso Image/Sheet: 9.625” H x 7.5” H; Mount: 18” H x 14” W $50,000-70,000 Provenance: The Artist Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Exhibited: Copenhagen, Denmark, Copenhagen Photographic Amateur Club [Kobenhavns Fotografiske Amator-Klub], “Copenhagen Photographic Amateur Club Exhibition 1920,” American Section, August 25-September 10, 1920 (Group) Literature: Amy Conger, Edward Weston’s Early Photography, Ph.D. diss.

(Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico, 1982), 285, fig. 19/12.

London Salon of Photography, Catalogue of the International Exhibition of the London Salon of Photography 1919 (London: London Salon of Photography, 1919). [Referred to as: “Bathing Pool”].

Notes: We are grateful to Paul Hertzmann of Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA for his assistance in cataloguing this work and to Beth Gates Warren for her essay contribution.

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Prologue to a Sad Spring Edward Weston, 1920 Edward Weston’s photograph Prologue to a Sad Spring, taken in March 1920, features his photographer colleague, frequent model, and erstwhile lover, Margrethe Mather, as she stands in front of a whitewashed barn, cocooned inside a fringed shawl, her facial features partially hidden by a broad brimmed hat. By juxtaposing her stolid figure against the pale shadow of a gnarled, leafless tree, Weston imbues his image with a pervasive melancholy. Although he never explained what sorrow or disappointment inspired the photograph, his life was filled with numerous dilemmas at the time.

By far the most important issue was his growing resolve to separate from his wife, Flora Chandler.

In April 1920, he confided to his friend Johan Hagemeyer that he was preparing another step in his “emancipation” by adding a few basic amenities to his studio that would allow him to live there if necessary. He told Hagemeyer: “Do let me hear from you—even a pessimistic letter would cheer me up—who am in the depths!”37 Despite its somber title, the Prologue image proved to be a popular one, in contrast to Weston’s earlier image titled Epilogue.38 In many ways the two photographs were visual complements, with Epilogue, taken in 1919, representing Weston’s experimentation with a bold, more stylized approach, and Prologue exemplifying Weston’s retreat to a more typical, romantic, soft-focus idiom. Predictably, the conservative critics much preferred Prologue, as did fellow photographer Imogen Cunningham who, after seeing Prologue for the first time, declared it “poetic” and “full of dreams.”39 Weston displayed the image at several venues over the next two years, including his solo exhibition at the State Normal School, Los Angeles, in May 1920; the Society of Copenhagen Amateur Photographers in August-September 1920; a joint exhibition with Margrethe Mather at the Friday Morning Club, Los Angeles, in February 1921; the First Annual Exhibition of Pictorial Photographs at the Kansas City Photo Supply Co. in February-March 1921; and another joint exhibition with Margrethe Mather, Karl Struss, and Edward S. Curtis at the MacDowell Club, Los Angeles in October-November 1921.40 Of particular interest is the exhibition label attached to the verso of Fred Davis’s print and annotated in Weston’s own handwriting, which indicates that the print Davis owned is the same one Weston exhibited in Kansas City in 1921.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Prologue to a Sad Spring,” 1920 Palladium print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Signed, titled, dated, and with a notation in pencil at the lower edge of the mount: Edward Weston / OX each; initialed and with a notation in pencil, verso: E.W. / 2; signed again, twice, and titled, dated, and with notations in ink on an exhibition label affixed to the verso of the mount: March 1920 Image/Sheet: 9.375” H x 7.375” W; Mount: 18” H x 14” W $60,000-80,000 Provenance: The Artist Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Literature: C.I. Brodersen, Events of the Month: The Copenhagen Salon, “Photo-Era” 46, no.

1 (January 1921): 48.

Amy Conger, Edward Weston’s Early Photography, Ph.D. diss. (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico, 1982), fig. 20/14.

Karen Haas and Margaret Wessling, Edward Weston: The Early Years (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2018), plate 36 and cover.

Ben Maddow, Edward Weston: Fifty Years (New York: Aperture, Inc., 1973), fig. 87.

Antony Anderson, Of Art and Artists: Edward Weston’s Photographs, Los Angeles Sunday Times, May 16, 1920, Part III, 2–3, 48.

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1986), plate 2.

C. J. Ocampo, Las Fotografías de Edward Weston, El Automóvil en México, November 1923, 15, 17.

Beth Gates Warren, Margrethe Mather & Edward Weston: A Passionate Collaboration (Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 2001), plate 18.

Edward Weston, “Statement,” San Franciscan 5, no. 2 (December 1930): 22–23.

Edward Weston [by Johan Hagemeyer; bust-length, head facing left, wearing open collar and jacket, 23: “Edward Weston: Johan Hagemeyer.”]

Exhibited: Kansas City, KS, “First Annual Exhibition of Pictorial Photographs at the Kansas City Photo Supply Co.,” February-March 1921.

Notes: We are grateful to Paul Hertzmann of Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA for his assistance in cataloguing this work and to Beth Gates Warren for her essay contribution.

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Undulating Sand Edward Weston, 1923 In the spring of 1923, Edward Weston began seriously planning for his long-anticipated exit from Glendale. After learning that his friend Johan Hagemeyer intended to travel from San Francisco to see him before he departed for Mexico, Weston cautioned: “If possible let me know when you expect to leave—so that I may plan ahead. I am going on a little adventure the latter part of this week—to be away for two or three days—and do not want to miss you….This trip just mentioned is a kind of farewell—so you will understand.”41 In early April, he entrusted his studio in Glendale to Tina Modotti and left for a brief stay in Redondo Beach. His “little adventure” turned out to be a holiday spent with his colleague and former lover, Margrethe Mather, and their mutual friend, Ramiel McGehee. The three whiled away several hours on a nearby beach where Weston photographed Mather posing in the nude. At least half a dozen images exist from this series, including Undulating Sand, in which Mather leans against a rippling sand dune, her face obscured, her body casting an elongated, misshapen shadow, as the sun makes its inevitable journey across the late afternoon sky.42 Weston’s first exhibition in Mexico City took place in late October 1923 at Aztec Land, a curio shop that often displayed work by local artists. While preparing for his show, he had taken many photographs of his current surroundings and new acquaintances, but he had also reprinted a few negatives made in California. Among the approximately seventy-five photographs Weston chose to display were several of his images of Mather in Redondo Beach, including Undulating Sand, which is discussed in an article about the show published in the October 18 issue of the El Universal Ilustrado newspaper.43 A second mention of Undulating Sand appears in the November issue of El Automóvil en México.44 Weston was delighted by the reception his work received, and on October 30 he told his journal: “The exhibit has been open for over a week; it is a success, I have done what I expected to do, created a sensation in Mexico City. Roubicek, the owner of ‘Aztec Land,’ told me he has never had such an attendance to any previous exhibitions.”45 Five days later, Weston speculated that as many as 1,000 people had visited his show. He also noted: “Of the eight prints sold, six were nudes of Margrethe made that last terrific week with her, before leaving for Mexico.”46

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Undulating Sand [Mather on Beach],” 1923 Palladium print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Signed, titled, and dated in pencil at the lower edge of the mount: Edward Weston; signed and dated again, inscribed and with notations in pencil, all verso: California Image/Sheet: 6.875” H x 9.187” W; Mount: 18” H x 14” W $50,000-70,000 Provenance: The Artist Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Literature: “Mr. Edward Weston, Fotógrafo de Fama Mundial que Ayer Inauguró una Exposición de sus Admirables Trabajos,” El Universal Ilustrado, October 18, 1923, sec. 2, 1.

[Illustrated as: Untitled (Portrait of Edward Weston by unidentified photographer)] Notes: We are grateful to Paul Hertzmann of Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA for his assistance in cataloguing this work and to Beth Gates Warren for her essay contribution.

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Dorothea Lange

(1895-1965) Portrait of Ruth Alden Langdon, 1921 Gelatin silver print on paper tipped to a thin board mount, as issued Signed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: Dorothea Lange; inscribed in pencil, presumably in another hand on the mount, verso: Florence Dunnum [sic] / S.F. Society Image/Sheet: 8.125” H x 6” W; Mount: 9” H x 6.375” W $2,000-3,000 Notes: A note affixed verso stating, “Photo of Ruth Alden Langdon (a direct descendant of John Alden) Langdon went to parties with the Floods, Huntington’s, etc. Lange was a friend of Ruth and Florence Dunham Bliss whose estate in Inverness, CA. These photos were purchased in 1996.”

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Little Boy in My Studio [Neil] Edward Weston, 1922 Edward Weston had been in Mexico City just shy of a month when he sat down on September 6, 1923, to write all three of the sons he had left behind in Glendale. His letter to his third son, Neil, born on December 6, 1914, was full of poignant, sentimental memories: “Beloved Grey-Boy! I love you more than a thousand peach blossoms—across miles of blue-sea water and big mountains I send you kisses—kisses—kisses. I am writing from my big studio room—it has high grey walls—higher than the one in my old studio—that ‘high bare wall’ against which you lean in my picture of you….The other day when I sat here resting and dreaming—I thought of that night we walked to the river together— into the dark night. I could still feel your little confiding hand in mine—and see your furtive upward glances as though to be reassured that there was nothing to fear—We walked through the willows to that bridge under the mountain and sat there listening to the river and strange noises of night roving animals or restless birds—the stars winked and winked at us until at last the Sandman came and two sleepy heads wandered home to bed—Dear Peter Pan—write me often!”47 Weston took Little Boy in my Studio in 1922, depicting his seven-year-old son as he folds himself into a corner, legs drawn up to his chest and head turned to the side. Weston also made at least two other variant images.48 In one, Neil stands with his back to the viewer, arms stretched high above his head, and in the other, he faces forward, arms crooked behind his head, right hip cocked to one side, left knee bent. Although Weston refers to a “high bare wall” in his letter, in fact Neil poses in front of a series of freestanding panels covered by a burlap-like fabric that served as a neutral backdrop for many of Weston’s portrait studies. The river Weston and his son walked to was the unpredictable Los Angeles River (still in its natural state before being lined with concrete in an attempt to prevent the periodic flooding that would destroy the “bridge under the mountain” in 1927). The riverbed was only a short hike from the Weston family home, which then stood at the southeast corner of Perlita Avenue and Verdant Street in what is now known as the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Very possibly Weston included this image in his second Mexico City exhibition at Aztec Land, which opened in October 1924. An article about the exhibition, published in the El Universal Ilustrado newspaper, mentions eight Weston photographs, including one described as “el encanto de un desnudo infantile” [the charm of a nude child].49

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Little Boy in My Studio [Neil],” 1922 Palladium print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Signed, titled, and dated in pencil at the lower edge of the mount: Edward Weston; with a notation in pencil on the mount, verso: 30 Image/Sheet: 9.5” H x 7.312” W; Mount: 18 “ H x 14” W $15,000-20,000 Provenance: The Artist Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Notes: We are grateful to Paul Hertzmann of Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA for his assistance in cataloguing this work and to Beth Gates Warren for her essay contribution.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Monna Alfau,” 1924 Gelatin silver print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Unsigned Image/Sheet: 3.75” H x 2.75” W; Mount: 14” H x 11” W $3,000-5,000 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger Literature: Conger 154/1924 When Edward Weston moved to Mexico in 1921, one of his close colleagues and supporters was Spanish writer Monna Alfau (1899-1986). Born in Spain in 1899, Alfau moved to New York City in 1915 with her family, part of a massive wave of immigration to the United States from Europe and Asia in the early decades of the 20th century. While working at a library in the city she met her first husband, fellow Spanish artist Rafael Sala (1891-1927) and became engaged in 1921, the same year Sala chaired the Hispanic Section’s Committee on Exhibits at the “America’s Making” exposition. The exposition, held from October 29 through November 12 at the 71st Regiment Armory, was a presentation of the contributions of varies immigrant communities to the development of the United States. Married in 1923, Alfau and Sala then travelled to Mexico on their honeymoon.

In Mexico, the couple stayed with friend Felipe Teixido (1895-1980) in his house in Mexico City. There they immersed themselves in the burgeoning Mexican art and avant-garde scene, coming out of the end of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Mexican art was undergoing a profound transformation, influenced by global Modernist movements and an uncovering of Pre-Columbian art unearthed during the Revolution, with Mexico City attracting artists from across the globe, including many from the United States. One of those Americans was photographer Edward Weston, who Alfau met at an exhibition at the Aztec Land Gallery exhibition of Weston’s work in 1923. Alfau was soon accompanying Weston and their entourage of artists and writers throughout Mexico, visiting ancient ruins and countryside villages. When Sala died in 1927, Alfau married their close friend Teixido, assisting with editng books in their printshop in Mexico City. She passed away in Mexico in 1986. A close friend of Weston’s, Alfau was a model for the artist and was photographed many times, of which this striking, contrasting image is from.

Weston noted in his journals that “in mentioning close friends, I do not overlook the Salas. I have seen more of them than any other “person,” but it is collectively that I always think and speak of Monna, Rafael, Felipe, and their unavoidable dogs” (Edward Weston in Mexico, 15-16).

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Palma Cuernavaca, Mexico Edward Weston, 1924 In mid-August 1924, Weston and Modotti spent five days in the city of Cuernavaca, Mexico, where they had been invited to stay at the home of Wallace Payne Moats, an American businessman who had prospered in both the mining and lumber industries in Mexico. Weston had recently met Moats’s socialite wife, the former Leone Blackmore, and their sixteen-year-old daughter, Alice-Leone, when they came to his studio to have their portraits made.50 Cuernavaca was a picturesque, luxuriantly tropical town, nestled among a cluster of hills, that had long attracted wealthy Americans and Europeans because of its lush beauty and temperate climate. Although Weston had fully expected the Moats’s residence to be pretentious, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually “lovely….a delightful place.”51 While in Cuernavaca, Weston and Modotti also visited the home of Fred Davis, who lived in a historic Colonial-era home that he had lovingly restored and furnished with Mexican crafts and paintings. The property also boasted an impressive garden with a wide array of exotic botanical specimens, including an assortment of palm trees. Immediately upon returning to Mexico City, Weston wrote down his thoughts about one of the photographs he had taken in Cuernavaca: “[I]n the garden of Fred Davis I responded to a towering palm which, seen through my short focus lens with the camera tilted almost straight up, seemed to touch the sky. I have already printed from the negative and those who have seen it respond with exclamations of delight. It’s a great cylindrical, almost white trunk, brilliant in the sun, topped by a circle of dark but sungleaming leaves; it cuts the plate diagonally from a base of white clouds.”52 On August 31, Weston recorded a comment his friend Monna Alfau had made about the palm photograph after seeing it for the first time: “Ah, Edward, that is one of the finest things you have ever done. Aesthetically it has the same value as your smoke stacks.”53 Alfau was referring to a series of photographs Weston had taken in the autumn of 1922 at the American Rolling Mills Company, a steel factory in Ohio. As his earliest photographs of an industrial subject, they represented his first attempts to convey a modernist aesthetic—one that exemplified architect Louis Sullivan’s famous axiom, “Form Follows Function.” Weston also added his own musings about the photograph: “Just the trunk of a palm towering up into the sky; not even a real one—a palm on a piece of paper, a reproduction of nature: I wonder why it should affect one emotionally—and I wonder what prompted me to record it. Many photographs might have been done of this palm, and they would be just a photograph of a palm—Yet this picture is but a photograph of a palm, plus something—something—and I cannot quite say what that something is—and who is there to tell me?”54 In early October, Weston recorded several attempts to print a few of his earlier negatives on an assortment of papers, sometimes adding bichromate to bring out the brilliancy. He conducted one of his experiments on the palm negative: “[The] new printing of my palm…is so dazzling in its’ [sic] brilliance—and the improvement shows what might be done by repeated experiments—the old print I was satisfied with and only reprinted the negative for [cinematographer] Roberto [Turnbull] who especially wished it.”55 Leading Weston to include the image in his 1924 Aztec Land exhibition. In a review, written in the form of a poem, Francisco Monterde Garcia Icazbalceta refers to it as “the trunk of the palm tree that keeps rising like the arrow shot by a native archer,” and the November 15 issue of the journal La Antorcha features a two-page pictorial spread that depicts five Weston photographs including Palma Cuernavaca.56 Prints of this image are rare, and the provenance of this one makes it highly desirable.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Palma Cuernavaca, Mexico,” 1924 Palladium print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Signed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: Edward Weston Image/Sheet: 9.5” H x 7.5” W; Mount: 17” H x 13” W $100,000-200,000 Provenance: The Artist Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Literature: Amy Conger, Edward Weston’s Early Photography, Ph.D. diss. (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico, 1982), fig. 24/40.

Conger 135/1924 “El Cielo de Mexico,” La Antorcha 1, no. 7 (November 15, 1924): 20-21.

[Illustrated as: “Untitled (Palma Cuernavaca)”].

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1986), plate 13.

Notes: We are grateful to Paul Hertzmann of Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA for his assistance in cataloguing this work and to Beth Gates Warren for her essay contribution.

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Cuernavaca Edward Weston, 1925 In late November 1925, Weston returned to Cuernavaca where he had been invited to spend a few days in Fred Davis’s home. Accompanying him were his son Brett, Modotti and her sister Mercedes, and journalist Carlton Beals. This time he took a different approach when he photographed the same statuesque palm tree he had recorded a year earlier. In this second image, he eliminates the fronds and clouds that are featured in the first version. He also crops the palm trunk at top and bottom, precisely centering it in his composition, and he emphasizes its texture and solidity by placing it against a dramatically darkened background. Upon returning to Mexico City, Weston recorded his thoughts about the new negative: “Today, staring out upon the drab sky and sad city street, yesterday returns as a tantalizing mirage, a favored moment in some Eden. I was incited to work, the stately palm in Davis’ garden….[different] than that of last year, —though so different in intent, as to be perhaps, not comparable.”57 A week later Weston and Modotti gave a party in honor of Mercedes who was about to end her sixweek visit to Mexico City. As an adjunct to the festivities, Weston printed a few new images to show their guests and one of them was the stark, monolithic palm trunk. It must have inspired comments— perhaps both positive and negative—because Weston felt compelled to ponder why he had taken such an unusual photograph. He queried his journal: “The weather having favored me at last with printing days, I had ready to show a print of the new palm. Why should a few yards of white tree trunk, exactly centered, cutting across an empty sky, cause such real response? And why did I spend my hours doing it? One question is simply answered—I had to!”58 In fact, Weston’s desire to simplify his previous palm image represents a critical step in his aesthetic evolution. During this period of Weston’s career, there exists no better example of the transition he is undergoing as he leaves behind the softfocus romanticism of his pictorialist past and moves toward the streamlined clarity of his modernist future.

Prints of this strikingly bold image are quite rare, and the impeccable provenance and art historical importance of this print make it especially desirable.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Cuernavaca,” 1925 Palladium print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Signed, titled, and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: Edward Weston; signed, titled, and dated again in pencil, verso: Nov. 1925 Image/Sheet: 9.625” H x 7.25” W; Mount: 18.625” H x 14.125” W $100,000-200,000 Provenance: The Artist Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Literature: Amy Conger, Edward Weston’s Early Photography, Ph.D. diss. (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico, 1982), fig. 25M/26.

Amy Conger, Edward Weston in Mexico 1923-1926, (Albuquerque, NM, University of New Mexico Press, 1983) 39, fig. 21.

Sarah M. Lowe, Tina Modotti and Edward Weston: The Mexican Years (London: Merrell, 2004), plate 36.

Gilles Mora, et al., Edward Weston: Forms of Passion/Passion of Forms (London: Thames & Hudson, 1995), 107.

Jose Antonio Rodriguez, et al., “Edward Weston: La Mirada de la Ruptura” (Mexico: El Instituto, 1994), 45, fig. 14.

Theodore Stebbins, Edward Weston: Photography and Modernism (New York: Bulfinch Press, 1999), plate 21.

Edward Weston, The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Vol. 1 Mexico, ed. Nancy Newhall (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1973), plate 23.

Edward Weston, “Statement” in Exhibition: Edward Weston/Brett Weston: Photographs; In the Print Rooms at the Los Angeles Museum (Los Angeles: Los Angeles Museum, 1927). [Referred to as: “Tronco de Palma”].

Notes: We are grateful to Paul Hertzmann of Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA for his assistance in cataloguing this work and to Beth Gates Warren for her essay contribution.

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Chayotes Edward Weston, 1924 Weston made his photograph Chayotes near the end of September 1924, after having lived in Mexico City for one year and a month. He was then preparing his second solo exhibition at Aztec Land, a curio shop on Avenida Madero. His show was due to open on October 15, and he was anxious to display a selection of his most recent images. On October 5, he sent nine rambling, handwritten pages of notes to his estranged wife, Flora. They included the following words: “to tired to go out—to nervous to stay in—a big day of printing—the first day possible for platinum printing in three weeks—results fourteen prints from as many negatives….today I feel is the first day of winter—not by the calendar to be sure—but because not all day long did one cloud appear—que Milagro!....Several negatives printed are new—made during this last cloudy week when I turned to my camera for diversion and consolation—‘still lifes’ they are—and pleasing ones—two fishes and a bird on a silver screen—head of a horse against my petate—chayotes in a painted wooden bowl and artificial fruit in another bowl….

These ‘still lifes’ strange to say—are the first I have ever done and [I’m] feeling quite sure they number among my best things.”59 The chayotes Weston depicts are a type of squash known as “prickly chayotes.” The aptly named fruits, covered by needle-like projections, are indigenous to Mexico and are a source of food widely cultivated since the days of the ancient Aztecs. Given Weston’s vegetarian preferences, it is not surprising that he chose to photograph an arrangement of these unusual fruits. By positioning his camera directly above the chayotes, he captures both the sheen of their tough rinds and the menace of their spiky protuberances, and by arranging them in a humble, hand-painted wooden bowl atop a handwoven straw petate, he creates a uniquely Mexican exercise in textures and patterns. Although there is no documentation to prove that Chayotes was among those photographs shown at Aztec Land in October 1924, it is known that Weston displayed several of his recently made “still lifes” in that exhibition. Considering Fred Davis’s collecting interests, it is easy to understand why he was drawn to an image so emblematic of his adopted country.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Chayotes,” 1924 Palladium print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Signed, titled, dated, and inscribed in pencil at the lower edge of the mount: Edward Weston / Mexico; with a notation in pencil at the upper left corner of the mount, verso: 35 Image/Sheet: 7.5” H x 9.625” W; Mount: 18” H x 14” W $50,000-70,000 Provenance: The Artist Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Literature: Conger 140/1924 Edward Weston, “Statement” in Exhibition: Edward Weston/Brett Weston: Photographs; In the Print Rooms at the Los Angeles Museum (Los Angeles: Los Angeles Museum, 1927). [Referred to as: “Chayotes”].

Notes: We are grateful to Paul Hertzmann of Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA for his assistance in cataloguing this work and to Beth Gates Warren for her essay contribution.

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Untitled [Nude] Edward Weston, 1923 In addition to portraying Margrethe Mather reclining on the sands of Redondo Beach in April 1923, Weston also made a few close-ups of her torso, cropped, and juxtaposed against the spines of a paper parasol. It was very likely that on this same occasion, he moved even closer to his subject, focusing on Mather’s right breast, her nipple tightly captured in the crook of her elbow and her flesh rather alarmingly punctuated by the pressure of her carefully manicured fingernails. Weston had never utilized this kind of aesthetic approach before, but he had recently been inspired by an audience with the most famous photographer in the United States.

In November 1922, he went to New York City where he met Alfred Stieglitz, twice, and viewed many of his photographs. Almost certainly he saw several of Stieglitz’s studies of Georgia O’Keeffe made in 1919, including those composed of various depictions of her full breasts and expressive hands. Recalling his first meeting with Stieglitz in a note to his friend Johan Hagemeyer, Weston was obviously impressed and exuberant: “‘A maximum detail with a maximum of simplification’—with these words as a basis for his attitude toward photography—I talked with Alfred Stieglitz for four hours—Brilliantly—convincingly he spoke—with all the idealism and fervor of a visionary—I saw a few of his prints too though most of them were in storage—I can only say in this brief note—they were the greatest photographs I have ever seen—And they were photographs—nothing else—And I was proud of my medium!.... I rejoiced in the possibilities of entirely new experimentation.”60 Four months later, one of Weston’s more daring experiments resulted in this close-up of Mather’s breast and hand. Very possibly this photograph, or some variant of it, was exhibited in Weston’s 1924 exhibition at Aztec Land, because a magazine “review,” written in the form of a poem, mentions images of “Isolated breasts that stare at us, looking out of a fan of modest fingers” and “Breasts offered by manicured fingers.”61 Weston further explored this approach a decade later after settling in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Beginning in 1933, he continued his experiments, composing nude fragments of several female models, including Sonya Noskowiak, Sybil Anikeef, Xenia Cage, Fay Fuquay, and Mary Ingels. These nude arrangements culminated in 1935 with images of Charis Wilson, the woman who would become his second wife in 1939.62 Prints of this image are extremely rare.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) Untitled [Nude], 1923 Gelatin silver print on paper hinged to a thin board mount Signed, dated, and with a notation in pencil at the lower edge of the mount: Edward Weston / “B + O” Image/Sheet: 9.5” W x 7.5” W; Mount: 18” H x 13.875” W $100,000-200,000 Provenance: The Artist Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Literature: Francisco Monterde Garcia Icazbalceta, “Arte. La Exposición de Edward Weston,” Antena: Revista Mensual (November 1924): 10–11. [Referred to as: “Isolated breasts that stare at us, looking out of a fan of modest fingers”].

Notes: We are grateful to Paul Hertzmann of Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA for his assistance in cataloguing this work and to Beth Gates Warren for her essay contribution.

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Nahui Olin Edward Weston, 1923 Carmen Mondragón, a Mexican poet known for her transformation into Nahui Olin, is immortalized in a captivating portrait captured by the renowned photographer Edward Weston as part of his Heroic Heads series, a collection of photographs featuring intellectual friends from the artistic and cultural circles in which Weston and his companion, Tina Modotti, moved during their time in Mexico. It stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of this multifaceted artist and the vibrant intellectual scene of the 1920s in Mexico. This striking image was considered one of Weston’s most successful works from his Mexican period.

Amy Conger reflects [that], “This picture was the most direct and timeless portrait Weston had yet made. The physical and psychological distance between photographer and subject has been reduced by a minimum. The two participants in this performance are mutually violating each other’s space: a visual challenge with neither backing down. Proportionally, she occupies more of the picture space than any person he had photographed. He shows her cracked lips, the pores in her skin, and her randomly and roughly cropped hair. The overall impression of destitution is softened by the gentle curve of light on her collarbone and the lighter outline on the shaded side of her nose and cheek... It is, without question, one of the most revealing portraits of Weston’s entire career.”

The subject of this mesmerizing portrait, Carmen Mondragón, chose to adopt the name Nahui Olin, signifying the “four movements of the sun,” upon her return to Mexico from her upbringing in Paris.

She sat for Edward Weston in November 1923, and the resulting portrait graced an exhibition at the Aztec Land Gallery in Mexico City the following year. Olin was not only a muse for Weston but also posed for notable artists like Diego Rivera and Jean Charlot. As a poet, painter, and artist’s model, she left colorful imprints of herself entwined with her lovers in her artwork. Known for her captivating large green eyes and her fiery spirit, she was a subject of speculation in the social columns of her time.

In a Mexico that gradually embraced conservative ideals in the 1940s, Nahui Olin withdrew from public life. However, her passion for art endured as she continued to impart her knowledge to children in Mexico City schools for decades until her passing in 1978.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Nahui Olin,” 1923 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Signed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: Edward Weston; dated again and titled on an exhibition label affixed to the frame’s backing board Image/Sheet: 9.125” H x 6.875” W; Mount: 15” H x 13.125” W $30,000-50,000 Provenance: The Artist Brett Weston, acquired from the above Harvey Himelfarb and Alice Swan, acquired from the above Exhibitions: San Francisco, CA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, “Edward Weston in Mexico: 1923-1926,” May 6 - July 3, 1983, and circulation, registration number: 11.83.16 Literature: Conger 107/1923 Edward Weston, The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Vol. 1 Mexico, ed. Nancy Newhall (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1973), plate 9.

Ben Maddow, Edward Weston: Fifty Years (New York: Aperture, Inc., 1973), 102 Amy Conger, Edward Weston in Mexico, 1923-1926 (University of New Mexico Press, 1983), 30, fig. 17.

Gilles Mora, ed. Edward Weston: Forms of Passion (New York: H.N. Abrams, 1995), 79.

Edward Weston: Life Work, Exhibition Catalogue (Revere: Lodima Press, 2003), 237, fig. 11.

Steve Crist, Edward Weston: One Hundred Twenty-five Photographs (Los Angeles: Ammo Books, 2012), plate 50.

Terrence Pitts, ed. Manfred Heiting, Edward Weston (Cologne: Taschen, 2017), 12.

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William Spratling Tina Modotti, 1929 1929 marked a pivotal change for William Spratling: He resigned from the faculty of the School of Architecture at Tulane University and moved to Taxco, Mexico. Like so many friends within his new circle, including Frederick Davis, Tina Modotti and Edward Weston, the gravitational pull southward on these Americans was irresistible. Each had their own reasons (and hurdles) in doing so, but this move for Spratling would not have been possible without his friendship with Frederick Davis. Davis is credited with introducing William Spratling to the silver craftsmanship, as well as the numerous opportunities both men enjoyed while working during this period in Mexico.

Tina Modotti took a series of portraits of Spratling in the late 1920’s, depicting a man, often smiling and at ease in his new environment. However, Spratling chose this particular image, the most straightforward if not personal of Modotti’s works, to inscribe “the warmest regards and sincerest appreciation of his friendship” to Davis. Spratling’s gifted photograph is a lasting testament to the bond these to ex-pats shared and which no doubt helped encourage each other in their mutual passion and projects in Mexican folk art.

Within two years, Spratling would launch his silver shop in Taxco and forever be known as the ‘gringo’ who reinvigorated the silver industry in that region and beyond.

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Tina Modotti

(1896-1942) “William Spratling,” 1929 Gelatin silver print on paper tipped to a board mount, as issued Signed in pencil on the mount, lower right: Tine Modotti; inscribed and dated in ink on the image, lower right: To Fred Davis with the warmest regards and sincerest appreciation of his friendship / Wm. Spratling / Mexico May 7, 1929 Image/Sheet: 9.25” H x 7.375” W; Mount: 10.5” H x 8.5” W $8,000-12,000

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Imogen Cunningham

(1883-1976)

Imogen Cunningham, a pioneering figure in Modernist photography, enjoyed a seven-decade-long career that left an indelible mark on the art world. In the male-dominated realm of early 20th-century photography, Cunningham stood out as a co-founder of Group f/64, alongside renowned photographers such as Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. “Imogen Cunningham: In Focus,” an exhibition organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, offers a glimpse into her artistic journey through around 35 of her works. These works span her large-format botanical photographs from the 1920s to street photography, still lifes, and multiple exposures created from the 1930s to the 1960s. Her prowess in portraiture, including self-portraits and iconic photographs of her contemporaries, is also showcased in this exhibition, along with images of Cunningham taken by others, such as her portraits by Edward Weston and Judy Dater’s famous photograph featuring Cunningham and her favorite model, Twinka.

The exhibition, which drew primarily from the Lane Collection, was on view from September 3, 2016, to June 18, 2017, and received support from the Shelly and Michael Kassen Fund.

Imogen Cunningham’s journey into photography began when she was a teenager, ordering her first camera from a mail-order kit and converting a woodshed into a darkroom for her work. Her unconventional path led her to study chemistry and botany at the University of Washington, followed by photochemistry in Dresden. In the early 1900s, she worked as a darkroom assistant in Edward S. Curtis’s Seattle studio, where she learned the art of photography. In 1915, Cunningham married Roi Partridge, a printmaker and painter, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she gained recognition as a portrait photographer.

Cunningham’s photography was known for its precision and focus, and she gained fame in the 1920s for her close-ups of botanical subjects, capturing intricate textures and details with her large-format camera. She had a unique ability to depict the “pure” abstract forms found in nature, exemplified by her striking photographs of magnolia blossoms and other botanical subjects. Additionally, Cunningham ventured into abstract nude figure studies, often employing unconventional vantage points and simplified geometric forms. In 1932, she joined forces with other like-minded Bay Area photographers, including Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, to form Group f/64, a collective dedicated to “straight,” unmanipulated photography characterized by great depth of field and sharp focus. Cunningham’s friendship with Weston and Adams persisted for decades, and the exhibition showcased photographs of them taken by each other and other unique moments they captured.

Cunningham made her living as a portrait photographer, often working on commissions for magazines and newspapers. Her portfolio included portraits of prominent figures in the arts, as well as beautifully composed images of students, friends, and neighbors, reflecting her empathy and keen sense of timing. Notably, she also turned her camera on herself, presenting three self-portraits in the exhibition, taken in various settings and circumstances. Her legacy extended beyond her work, as she served as an inspiration to younger generations of female photographers, with artists like Judy Dater acknowledging Cunningham’s profound impact on their work and personal development.

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Two Callas Imogen Cunningham, 1925-1929 Imogen Cunningham’s career as a photographer spanned an impressive seven decades, and today, several of her photographs are celebrated as iconic contributions to the history of the medium.

Notable among them are her portraits of Edward Weston and Margrethe Mather (1922), Frida Kahlo (1931), Martha Graham (1931), Alfred Stieglitz (1934), Morris Graves (1950, 1973), and Ruth Asawa (1952). Her work also includes striking nude studies like Triangles (1928) and Nude (1932).

Cunningham’s botanical photographs are a unique and significant part of her legacy in photography and American Modernism. “Two Callas,” printed in the 1920s, stands out as one of her most celebrated works in this genre.

Comparisons between Cunningham’s Two Callas and Georgia O’Keeffe’s large-scale calla lily paintings are often discussed. Both artists created close-up, full-framed images that emphasize the tactile threedimensionality and sensuality of the calla lilies’ blossoms, with their multilobed stamen.

Prints of Two Callas, whether early or later editions, are exceptionally rare. Cunningham temporarily misplaced the negative for this beautiful image but rediscovered it in 1973, enabling her to produce several prints before her passing in 1976. Vintage prints of Two Callas are found in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, the Eastman Museum in Rochester, and the Museum of Modern Art. Notably, an early print in private ownership is titled Two Lilies.

The scarcity of prints of Two Callas, particularly those made by Cunningham on the matte surface photographic paper she exclusively used in the 1920s, along with the presence of Cunningham’s Mills College P.O. label from her 1929 to 1934 period and the significant Frederick W. Davis provenance, all contribute to the print’s exceptional importance.

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Imogen Cunningham

(1883-1976) “Two Callas,” 1925-1929 Silver bromide enlargement print on paper mounted to a thin board mount Signed in pencil on the mount, at right: Imogen Cunningham; titled on the artist’s Mills College label affixed to the verso of the mount Image/Sheet: 9.75” H x 7.375” W; Mount: 16” H x 14” W $100,000-200,000 Provenance: The Artist Grete Heilbuth (agent for the artist), acquired from the above Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above, Mexico, June 1932 Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Literature: David W. Prall, Aesthetic Judgment (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1929), 57. [Titled here: Two Lilies] “Das Atelier des Photographen 38,” no. 10 (1929). [Titled here: Zwei Calles] The Pictorialist, A Compilation of Photographs from the Fourteenth Annual International Salon of Pictorial Photography under the auspices of the Camera Pictorialists of Los Angeles (Los Angeles: Adcraft, 1931), plate 18.

“Impressions in Silver by Imogene [sic] Cunningham,” “Los Angeles Museum Art News,” April 1932.

Minor White, ed. Aperture 1, no. 4 (1964): 145.

Minor White, ed. “A Collection of Photographs,” Aperture 14, no. 2 (Fall 1969).

Margery Mann, Imogen Cunningham: Photographs (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1970), plate 13.

Bill Jay, ed. Album 5 (London: Aidan Ellis & Tristram Powell, 1970), 25.

Robert Doty, ed. Photography in America (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art and Random House, 1974), 124.

Allan Porter, ed., “Camera no.10” (October 1975): 21.

Imogen Cunningham, Imogen Cunningham: Die Poesie der Form (Schaffhausen: Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, 1993), 21.

Richard Lorenz, Imogen Cunningham: Flora (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996), plate 10.

Werner Bokelberg, Happy Birthday Photography (Zurich: Kunsthaus Zurich, 1989), 108.

William A. Ewing, Flora Photographica: Masterpieces of Flower Photography, 1835 to the Present (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), 24.

Barbara Haskell, The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-1950 (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1999), plate 389.

Barbara Buhler Lynes, Georgia O’Keeffe and the Calla Lily in American Art, 1860-1940 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press in association with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Sante Fe, 2003), plate 11.

Paul Martineau and Susan Ehrens, Imogen Cunningham: A Retrospective (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2020), 123.

Notes: We are grateful to Susan Ehrens for her assistance in cataloguing this work and providing the lot notes.

The artist’s label verso was designed by Cunningham’s artist husband, Roi Partridge, and used from 1929 to 1934 With the recent resurfacing of a trove of rare photographs in the Frederick W. Davis Estate, a new name is now being associated with the life and oeuvre of photographic artist Imogen Cunningham: Grete Heilbuth.

German-born Grete Heilbuth (also known as Grete Hilbert, Marga Hilbert, and Grete Williams) immigrated to the United States in 1922, settling in Oakland, California. It is likely that Imogen Cunningham met Heilbuth in the early 1920s, when Cunningham’s artist husband, Roi Partridge began teaching at Mills College, or by 1925, when Partridge became the first director of the Art Gallery at the college.

In the Summer of 1932, Grete Heilbuth spent almost three months in Mexico City, gathering works by Mexican artists for a Fall exhibition at Courvoisier Gallery in San Francisco. During this time Heilbuth made a presentation of Cunningham’s photographs to Frederick Davis. Among the nineteen photographs that Cunningham had shipped to Heilbuth in Mexico in June, the majority were botanical forms. Cunningham’s notebooks indicates that four photographs were sold. “Rubber Plant” and “Two Callas,” have both resurfaced in the Estate of Frederick W. Davis. The whereabouts of the other two Cunningham photographs, a portrait of Frida Kahlo and her botanical, “Aloe Bud,” are unknown.

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Rubber Plant 3 Imogen Cunningham, c. 1929 Imogen Cunningham created this photograph using smooth, glossy paper, which offered a broader range of tonality and contrast compared to the warm-toned, matte papers favored by her and other photographers in the 1920s. This print is likely one of the earliest versions, and currently, it’s the only known print from this negative on this specific photographic paper.

While Cunningham’s Two Callas showcases a full frame of blossoms, leaves, and stamen, Rubber Plant 3 exemplifies minimalism, emphasizing the plant’s sculptural leaves against a dark background.

Two Callas and Rubber Plant 3 in the Frederick Davis Collection may seem quite different at first glance, but their harmonious relationship becomes apparent when viewed together. Both images are grandly composed and framed using natural light. It’s highly likely that Fred Davis also recognized this relationship when presented with a group of Cunningham’s photographs in June 1932 in Mexico.

Another 1920s print of Rubber Plant 3 by Cunningham is housed in the Eastman Museum’s collection in Rochester. The Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles holds a 1971 print made by Cunningham from the same negative, exchanged for her vintage print from the museum’s Galka Scheyer Collection.

The location of the vintage print given to Cunningham in this exchange remains unknown at the time of this writing.

The rarity of early prints of this image, the presence of Cunningham’s Mills College P.O. label, and the association with the Frederick Davis provenance all contribute to the significance of this uncommon photograph.

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Imogen Cunningham

(1883-1976) “Rubber Plant 3,” circa 1929 Silver bromide enlargement print on glossy paper mounted to a thin board mount Signed in pencil on the mount, lower right: Imogen Cunningham; titled on the artist’s Mills College label affixed to the verso of the mount Image/Sheet: 9” H x 7.25” W; Mount: 16” H x 14” W $3,000-5,000 Provenance: The Artist Grete Heilbuth (agent for the artist), acquired from the above Frederick W. Davis, acquired from the above, Mexico, June 1932 Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above Literature: Minor White, ed., Aperture 11, no. 4 (1964). [titled and dated here: Pflanzenformen, Rubber Plant, before 1929.]

Imogen Cunningham, Imogen Cunningham: Die Poesie der Form (Schaffhausen: Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, 1993), 21.

Vivian Endicott Barnett, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum (New Haven and London: Yale University Press in association with The Norton Simon Art Foundation, 2002), 447, plate 452.

Gloria Williams, ed., The Collectible Moment: Catalogue of Photographs in the Norton Simon Museum (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), plate 167.

Notes: We are grateful to Susan Ehrens for her assistance in cataloguing this work and providing the lot notes.

The artist’s label verso was designed by Cunningham’s artist husband, Roi Partridge, and used from 1929 to 1934.

With the recent resurfacing of a trove of rare photographs in the Frederick W. Davis Estate, a new name is now being associated with the life and oeuvre of photographic artist Imogen Cunningham: Grete Heilbuth.

German-born Grete Heilbuth (also known as Grete Hilbert, Marga Hilbert, and Grete Williams) immigrated to the United States in 1922, settling in Oakland, California. It is likely that Imogen Cunningham met Heilbuth in the early 1920s, when Cunningham’s artist husband, Roi Partridge began teaching at Mills College, or by 1925, when Partridge became the first director of the Art Gallery at the college.

In the Summer of 1932, Grete Heilbuth spent almost three months in Mexico City, gathering works by Mexican artists for a Fall exhibition at Courvoisier Gallery in San Francisco. During this time Heilbuth made a presentation of Cunningham’s photographs to Frederick Davis. Among the nineteen photographs that Cunningham had shipped to Heilbuth in Mexico in June, the majority were botanical forms. Cunningham’s notebooks indicates that four photographs were sold. “Rubber Plant” and “Two Callas,” have both resurfaced in the Estate of Frederick W. Davis. The whereabouts of the other two Cunningham photographs, a portrait of Frida Kahlo and her botanical, “Aloe Bud,” are unknown.

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Triangles Imogen Cunningham, 1928 Triangles is the best-known and most celebrated of Cunningham’s many nude photographs. In the 1920s, Imogen Cunningham creatively embraced rhythmic patterns and intricate compositions in her botanical photographs and nude studies. Her 1923 photograph titled “Torso,” a striking close-up of a woman’s breasts framed by a man’s arm, unmistakably paved the way for her modernist masterpiece, Triangles.

This photograph was selected as the cover image for Imogen Cunningham’s inaugural monograph in 1970, and it continues to be her most revered nude study even after many decades.

In the 2020 exhibition catalogue, Imogen Cunningham: A Retrospective, published by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Susan Ehrens observed: Triangles, a Cubist-inspired close-up study, stands as the crowning jewel among Cunningham’s numerous nude works. Its fusion of sharp lines and contours, subtly bathed in gradients of light, beckons our gaze toward the heart of the composition. The triangular shape formed by the overlapping arms and legs mirrors the triangular space between the breasts, forming an intricate interplay of three interlocking triangles.” (Page 39) Cunningham always printed this image this size, less than four by three inches, to accentuate its intimacy and draw us into its compositional nuances.

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Imogen Cunningham

(1883-1976) “Triangles,” 1928 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a thin board mount Printed later, circa 1960 Signed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: Imogen Cunningham; the artist’s Green Street label with the printed signature and typed title and date, affixed to the mount, verso Image/Sheet: 3.875” H x 2.875” W; Mount: 11.5” H x 8.625” W $12,000-18,000 Provenance: The Artist Gifted to Tom Eckstrom (Cunningham’s photographic. assistant), circa 1975, gifted from the above Private Collection, Bay Area, CA, acquired from the above Literature: Christina Berding, “Imogen Cunningham and the Straight Approach,” Modern Photography 15, no. 5 (May 1951): 39.

Louis Stettner, The History of the Nude in American Photography: 1840 to the Present (Greenwich, CT: Whitestone, 1966), 84.

Margery Mann, Imogen Cunningham: Photographs (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1970), cover and plate 12.

Ed Houk, Vintage Photographs by Women of the 20’s and 30’s (Chicago: Edwynn Houk Gallery, 1988), title page.

Constance Sullivan, ed., Women Photographers (New York: Narry N. Abrams, 1990), plate 36.

Watkins to Weston: 101 Years of California Photography 1849-1950 (Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1992), 139.

Richard Lorenz, Imogen Cunningham: Ideas Without End, A Life in Photographs (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1993), plate 53.

Richard Lorenz, Imogen Cunningham: The Modernist Years (Tokyo: Treville Publishing, 1993).

Imogen Cunningham, Imogen Cunningham: Die Poesie der Form (Schaffhausen: Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, 1993), 40.

Christian A. Peterson, After the Photo-Secession: American Pictorial Photography, 1910-1955 (Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1997), plate 61.

Naomi Rosenblum, A World History of Photography (New York: Abbeville Press Inc., 1997), 431.

Richard Lorenz, Imogen Cunningham: On the Body (Boston: Bulfinch, 1998), plate 44.

Karen Sinsheimer, An Eclectic Focus: Photographs from the Vernon Collection (Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1999), 86.

Manfred Heiting, ed., Imogen Cunningham: 1883-1976 (Cologne: Taschen, 2001), 46.

Marianne Karabelnik, ed., Stripped Bare: The Body Revealed in Contemporary Art (New York: Merrel, 2004), 52.

Nissan N. Perez, A Rare Gift: The Noel and Harriette Levine Collection of Photographs (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2010), 113.

Karen Haas, et al., An Enduring Vision: Photographs from the Lane Collection (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2011), plate 56.

Imogen Cunningham (Madrid: Fundación Mapfre, 2012), 230, plate 182.

Robert B. Menschel, The Shape of Things: Photographs from Robert B. Menschel (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2016), 107.

Noam Gal, A Modern Love: Photographs from The Israel Museum (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2019), 69.

Paul Martineau, Imogen Cunningham: A Retrospective (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2020), plate 42.

Notes: We are grateful to Susan Ehrens for her assistance in cataloguing this work and providing the lot notes and essay.

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Imogen Cunningham

(1883-1976) “Leaf Pattern,” 1929 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Signed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: Imogen Cunningham; titled and dated again on the artist’s label affixed to the verso of the mount Image/Sheet: 12” H x 8.625” W; Mount: 18.75” H x 15” W $1,000-1,500 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger

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“If there is symbolism in my work, it can only be in a very broad consideration of life, the seeing of parts, fragments, as universal symbols...”

—Edward Weston

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Eroded Rock, Point Lobos,” 1930 Gelatin silver print on paper Signed, titled, dated, and inscribed in pencil on the sheet, verso: Edward Weston / 51R; with pencil notations along the lower edge of the back mat Image/Sheet: 6.625” H x 9.5” W $7,000-9,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Bel Air, CA Literature: Conger 634/1930 [Titled as: Eroded Rock No. 51] Edward Weston, The Flame of Recognition, ed. Nancy Newhall (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 2017), 40.

Amy Conger, et al., EW: 100—Centennial Essays in Honor of Edward Weston (Carmel, CA: Friends of Photography, 1986), fig. 3.

Amy Conger, The Monterey Photographic Tradition: The Weston Years (Monterey, CA: Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, 1986), fig. 47.

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1986), plate 91.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Succulent,” 1930 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a thin board mount Edition: 4/50 Initialed and numbered in pencil on the mount, at left: EW; inscribed in pencil on the verso of the mount: To Sally Flavin / a portrait of her garden / hung in my first New York exhibit / Edward Weston Image/Sheet: 7.5” H x 9.5” W; Mount: 10” H x 13” W $8,000-12,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Bel Air, CA Literature: Conger 589/1930 Ben Maddow, Edward Weston: Fifty Years (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1973), cf. fig. 87.

James L. Enyeart, Edward Weston’s California Landscape (Boston, Little, Brown, 1984), cf. plate 113.

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1986), cf. cat. 192, plate 102.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Rock Erosion, Point Lobos,” 1938 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Initialed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: EW; dated again and with a notation in pencil on the mount, verso: PL-R-21g Image/Sheet: 7.625” H x 9.625” W; Mount: 14.875” H x 15.625” W $6,000-8,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Bel Air, CA Literature: Conger 1365/1938 Edward Weston, My Camera on Point Lobos (New York: Da Capo Press, 1950), cf. plate 8.

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1986), cf. cat. 175.

Sarah M. Lowe and Dody Weston Thompson, Edward Weston Life Work: Photographs from the collection of Judith G. Hochberg and Michael P. Mattis (Revere, PA: Lodima Press, 2003), plate 99.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Zohmah and Jean Charlot, [Honeymoon]” 1939 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a thin board mount Initialed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: EW; signed and dated again, and numbered in pencil on the mount, verso: P039-CH-1 Image/Sheet: 7.625” H x 9.625” W; Mount: 14” H x 15.5” W $12,000-18,000 Provenance: The Artist Glen Fishback, gifted from the above for Fishback’s son / Weston’s namesake, Kurt Edward Fishback, as a newborn in 1942 Kurt Edward Fishback, by descent from the above Private Collection, acquired from the above Literature: Conger 1473/1939 Nancy Newhall, The Photographs of Edward Weston (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1946), 29, plate 24.

Edward Weston, The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Vol. 2 California, ed. Nancy Newhall (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1973), plate 24.

The Charlot Collection of Edward Weston Photographs, (Honolulu, HI: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1984), 9.

Theodore Stebbins, Weston’s Westons: Portraits and Nudes (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 1989), plate 114.

Sarah Greenough, Joel Snyder, David Travis, and Colin Westerbeck, On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1989), 321, cat. 271.

Susan Danly, Jonathan Spaulding, Jessica Todd Smith, and Jennifer A. Watts, Edward Weston: A Legacy (The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens; New York: Merrell, 2003), 200, plate 79.

Terence Pitts, Edward Weston, ed. Manfred Heiting (Cologne: Taschen, 2013), 219.

Notes: Weston made this photograph on Point Lobo around May 29, 1939; Zohmah and Jean Charlot married in San Francisco on May 26, and while on their honeymoon, they came to Carmel for a brief visit with the Weston’s (Edward Weston and Charis Wilson) who had gotten married only a month earlier. Zohmah and Jean Charlot were napping on the rocks at Point Lobos when Edward Weston made this photograph. A variant on this image was Weston’s single contribution to the Family of Man exhibition organized by Edward Steichen in 1955 that traveled internationally, accompanied by a publication of the same name. - Amy Conger, 1992

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Sandstone Erosion, Point Lobos,” 1942 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to board mount Initialed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: EW; inscribed in pencil on the mount, verso: PL42-R-2 Image/Sheet: 7.625” H x 9.5” W; Mount: 14” H x 15.5” W $10,000-15,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Bel Air, CA Literature: Conger 1699/1942 Edward Weston, My Camera on Point Lobos (New York: Da Capo Press, 1950), cf. plate 13.

David Brower, Not Man Apart: Photographs of the Big Sur Coast (San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1965), cf. 44.

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1986), cf. cat. 192, and plate 102.

Sarah M. Lowe and Dody Weston Thompson, Edward Weston Life Work: Photographs from the collection of Judith G. Hochberg and Michael P. Mattis (Revere, PA: Lodima Press, 2003), cf. plate 106.

Susan Danly, Jonathan Spaulding, Jessica Todd Smith, and Jennifer A. Watts, Edward Weston: A Legacy (The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens; New York: Merrell, 2003), cf. fig. 13, plate 21.

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) “Cypress and Stone Crop, Point Lobos,” from the “Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio,” 1946 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a thin board mount Edition: Printed 1951, from an edition of 100 Initialed and dated in pencil on the mount, at right: EW; with an ink stamp and number notation in pencil on the mount, verso: Portfolio Print No. 9 Image/Sheet: 9.5” H x 7.5” W; Mount: 16” H x 13.75” W $4,000-6,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Oakland, CA. Literature: Conger 1806/1946 Edward Weston, “What is Photographic Beauty?” American Photography 45, no.

12 (December 1951): p. 739-743.

Edward Weston, “What is Photographic Beauty?” Camera Craft 46, no. 6 (June 1939): 247-255.

Merle Armitage, ed., 50 Photographs by Edward Weston (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1947), plate 46.

Edward Weston, The Flame of Recognition, ed. Nancy Newhall (Millerton, New York: Aperture, 2017), 97.

Kathy Kelsey Foley, Edward Weston’s Gifts to His Sister (Dayton, OH: Dayton Institute of Art, 1978), 59.

Keith F. Davis, Edward Weston: One Hundred Photographs from The NelsonAtkins Museum of Art and the Hallmark Photographic Collection (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1982), 60. [Titled and date here: North Wall, Point Lobos, 1946.].

James Enyeart, California Landscapes (Boston: Little, Brown, 1984), plate 76.

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston (Boston: New York Graphic Society and Little, Brown, 1986), cat. 212, plate 110.

David Travis, Edward Weston: The Last Years in Carmel (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago; New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2001), 125, cat. 64, plate 64; 13, fig. 2. [Titled and dated here: North Dome, Point Lobos, 1946.].

Gloria Williams, ed. The Collectible Moment: Catalogue of Photographs in the Norton Simon Museum (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 288, cat. 288. [Titled and dated here: North Dome, Point Lobos, 1946.].

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Edward Weston

(1886-1958) Portraits of Enrique (Enrica) Jackson Nine gelatin silver prints on paper Each signed in ink in either an upper or lower corner of the image: Weston 9 pieces Image/Sheet of Smallest: 6.375” H x 4” W; Image/Sheet of Largest: 6.75” H x 4.75” W $4,000-6,000 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger Literature: Amy Conger, “Edward Weston’s Early Photography,” Ph.D. diss. (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico, 1982), figs. 16/22, 16/24, 16/25, 16/26, 16/27, 16/28, 16/29, 16/30, 16/31.

Notes: This lot is comprised of the following images: “Enrica with Arms Akimbo” “Enrica with a Black Cross, Looking Up” “Enrica with a Black Cross, Looking Sideways” “Enrica with Her Hand Against the Wall” “Enrica with Shoulders Relaxed” “Enrica with Fan, Looking Down” “Enrica with a Fan Looking Up” “Enrica, Wearing a Hat” “Enrica, Wearing a White Collar” “Enrica Jackson (b. 1888) more or less replaced Rae Davis in Weston’s studio when she left to marry in 1916. Enrica and her sister Marie had come from Kansas to California in 1906 after the earthquake. Enrica soon obtained work as a retoucher in the Mojonnier Studio which was then located in the Auditorium Building in Los Angeles. Within a little while, Weston also obtained employment there as a camera man and printer, according to Enrica. Like Rae Davis, Enrica also became a photographer. She did not recall exactly how long she worked in his studio, but there are portraits of her by him done in 1916 (Figs. 16/22-31) and 1919 (Fig. 19/8).” Conger diss. 190.

“The June 1916 issue of the Camera featured an unusually comprehensive visual summary of Weston’s recent accomplishments. Seven images received full-page illustrations, including two of dancer Violet Romer and one each of dancers Ted Shawn and Maud Allan. A fifth portrayed Weston’s loyal assistant, Rae Davis, who had recently left Weston’s employ to marry, while the remaining two were portraits of the woman who had replaced her, Enrica (or Enrique) Jackson.

A former colleague from Weston’s Mojonier Studio days, Jackson was an attractive, dark-haired woman with a flair for modeling. Weston enjoyed having a beautiful new assistant, and he proceeded to make a number of portraits of her, many of which he sent to publications and salons. Several of Weston’s published portraits of Jackson, which began appearing in various camera magazines in mid-1916, are very similar to photographs he took of Margrethe Mather during that same time period. A portrait of Mather that appeared in the July 1916 issue of the “Camera,” in which she stands, hands on hips, head cocked to one side, is almost identical to one of Jackson reproduced in the same publication a month earlier.

Oddly, Jackson would later claim to have no memory of Margrethe Mather. While it seems almost impossible that the two women could have remained strangers, given that Mather was very much a part of Weston’s life, and in and out of his studio with regularity during the months Jackson worked for him, Weston would prove remarkably successful at compartmentalizing his personal relationships, especially those he enjoyed with the opposite sex.

Perhaps he feared he might reveal too much about his feelings for Mather in Jackson’s presence, and, if so, Jackson’s failure to recall Mather may have been due to Weston’s concerted efforts to keep them apart.

In the summer of 1916 Antony Anderson unexpectedly devoted an entire column to a description of his recent visit to one of the Camera Pictorialists’ monthly meetings. Andersons article offered insight into the groups workings and explained his growing interest in their cause. Once again Anderson mistakenly identified Weston as the organizations leader”- from Beth Gates Warren, “Artful Lives: Edward Weston, Margrethe Mather, and the Bohemians of Los Angeles” (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011), 90.

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Eva Paxton Lorillard

(1860-1929) Portraits of Enrica Jackson Five palladium prints on paper Each unsigned; two notations in ink, and possibly in the hand of Eva Paxton Lorillard, along the lower right sheet edge: Lorillard; three sheets with a pencil notation of “Enrica” and two sheets with the black ink address stamp of Eva Paxton Lorillard, all verso 5 pieces Image/Sheet of smallest:10.75” H x 5.5” W; Image/Sheet of largest: 9.5” H x 7.5” W $1,500-2,500 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger

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Josef Sudek

(1897-1976) The Window of My Studio, circa 1940-1950 Gelatin silver print mounted to a board mount Signed in pencil on the mount at lower right: Sudek Image/Sheet: 9” H x 6.625” W; Mount: 11.375” H x 9” W $4,000-6,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Bel Air, CA

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Paul Strand

(1890-1976) “France,” 1950 Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Signed, titled, and dated in ink, verso: Paul Strand Image/Sheet: 4.625” H x 5.875” W; Mount: 14.625” H x 12.125” W $2,000-3,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Bel Air, CA Notes: An inscription in pencil on the back mount indicates that the village depictedis in Entraygues, France. As well as a notation in pencil on the verso of the back mount: A gift to Richard M Benson.

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Ansel Adams

(1902-1984) “Half Dome, Blowing Snow,” circa 1955 Silver gelatin print on paper mounted to illustration board From the edition printed in 1976 for “Portfolio VII” Signed in pencil on the illustration board, lower right: Ansel Adams; titled and dated in ink, and with the artist’s Carmel studio ink stamp, all on the verso of the illustration board Image/Sheet: 15.5” H x 19.5” W; Sight: 16.25” H x 20” W $15,000-20,000 Provenance: Alinder Gallery, Gualala, CA Notes: According to a letter written in 1994 by the director of the above mentioned gallery to the former owners of this lot, “Adams chose...”Half Dome, Blowing Snow,” as one of the twelve photographs for “Portfolio VII.” Your print was made by the artist in 1976 for the portfolio. Under glancing light a portfolio print number can be seen below the lower left recto of the print on the mount board. We were told by the previous owners...that Adams told them that there were several extras made for the portfolio in case there were any damaged along the way. This was an extra that was not needed for the portfolio.

The number was erased and the print sold separately. Adams stated when he issued this portfolio that, “No further prints will be made from the negatives.”

This lot is sold together with a copy of the full letter from February 11, 1994, quoted above.

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Ansel Adams

(1902-1984) “El Capitan” Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Edition: 529 of S.E.Y. [special edition Yosemite], printed 1958-1972 Signed in ink on the mount, at right: Ansel Adams; titled, numbered and inscribed No. 3, all in ink in the corresponding blanks of the special edition Photographs of Yosemite black ink stamp on the verso of the mat board mount Image/Sheet: 9.75” H x 7” W; Mount: 16.5” H x 13.375” W $2,000-3,000 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger

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31

Ansel Adams

(1902-1984) “El Capitan - Winter” Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Edition: 498 of S.E.Y. [special edition Yosemite], printed 1958-1972 Signed in ink on the mount, at right: Ansel Adams; titled, numbered and inscribed No. 17, all in ink in the corresponding blanks of the special edition Photographs of Yosemite black ink stamp on the verso of the mat board mount Image/Sheet: 9.75” H x 7.5” W; Mount: 16.375” H x 13.5” W $2,000-3,000 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger

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Ansel Adams

(1902-1984) “Mirror Lake” (Yosemite Valley and Mt. Watkins) Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Edition: 417 of S.E.Y. [special edition Yosemite], printed 1958-1972 Signed in ink on the mount, at right: Ansel Adams; titled, numbered and inscribed No. 6, all in ink in the corresponding blanks of the special edition Photographs of Yosemite black ink stamp on the verso of the mat board mount Image/Sheet: 7.75” H x 9.75” W; Mount: 13.5” H x 16.375” W $2,000-3,000 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger

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Brett Weston

(1911-1993) Fifteen plates from the “Fifteen Photographs Of Japan” portfolio, 1970 Each: Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Each from the edition of 50 Each: Signed and dated in pencil near the lower corners of the board mount: Brett Weston; Brett Weston, Carmel, CA, self-published Image/Sheet of each: 9.5” H x 7.75” W; Mount of each: 15” H x 13.25” W $10,000-15,000 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger Notes: These 15 hand-signed images from 1970 document Brett Weston’s only trip to Japan. He self published just 50 examples of the portfolio “Fifteen Photographs of Japan” during the same year as he made the trip.

Please note that this lot is comprised of the only the photographs. This set is lacking its original, linen-covered, four-fold portfolio box, each of which Weston signed, dated, and inscribed in pencil on the inside box flap.

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Richard Avedon

(1923-2004) “Vladimir Horowitz, pianist, New Milford, Connecticut,” 1975 Gelatin silver print on paper Edition: 5/50 Signed: Avedon, numbered, and inscribed no. 11 in ink, with the ink stamp title, date, edition information, copyright credit, and reproduction limitation, all verso Image/Sheet: 10” H x 8” W $5,000-7,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Bel Air, CA

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Eugene Smith

(1918-1978) Untitled [Night view of river, bridges, and city lights] Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount Signed in pencil on the mount, at right: Eugene Smith; inscribed in pencil and with the artist’s copyright ink stamp on the mount, verso: 8 Pittsburgh / PT-44-A2 Image/Sheet: 10.125” H x 13.125” W; Mount: 20” H x 16” W $3,000-5,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Bel Air, CA

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Scott B. Davis

(b. 20th Century) Ten plates from the “Nocturnes Portfolio,” 2001 Each platinum/palladium print on white wove paper Edition of each: 1/10 Each signed, titled, and numbered in pencil in the lower margin, and with the artist’s blindstamp in the lower left margin corner Image of each: 7.5” H x 9.5” W ; Sheet of each: 14” H x 17” W $1,000-2,000 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger Notes: According to the artist’s website, “The ‘Nocturnes Portfolio’ was published in 2001 to gather ten of my earliest night photographs. The portfolio includes 10 - 8” H x 10” W platinum/palladium prints on 14” H x 17” W paper, housed in a custom clamshell box with a letterpress essay by Amy Conger. These seminal works were made in the California desert, southern Arizona, and northern New Mexico, each printed in [sic] from the original 8” H x 10” W negative.

The portfolio is produced in an edition of 10, with four copies remaining. Each portfolio print is embossed with a unique blind stamp not found on other editions.”

This lot is comprised of the 10 photographs, each framed separately. It is lacking the other portfolio components described above.

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Thomas Eakins

(1844-1916) “Study for Pushing Rail,” 1874 Contact gelatin silver print on paper Appears unsigned; titled on an exhibition label affixed to the frame’s backing paper Sight: 5” H x 3.75” W $1,500-2,500 Provenance: The Edward W. Boulton Collection The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Private Collection, New York, NY Exhibited: Island Heights, NJ, The John F. Peto Studio Museum, “Thomas Eakins in New Jersey”, May 1- June 27, 2021 Lambertville, NJ, Pedersen Gallery, “Thomas Eakins Artist of the Common Man”, June 10-24, 2023 Literature: “Thomas Eakins in New Jersey” (Island Heights, NJ: John F. Peto Studio Museum), 2021, 3.

Notes: The John F. Peto Studio Museum alternatively titled this work, “Study, Pushing For Rail,” and according to the museum, “In 1873, Eakins contracted malaria. Weakened by the illness, he relied upon photographs of himself and his friends posing in hunting activities as studies for his later paintings.” Therefore, the painting “Pushing For Rail,” created in 1874 was a result of those earlier studies, and is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, and on view in Gallery 764, “In the Artist’s Studio, 1865-1900.”

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Thomas Eakins

(1844-1916) “Study for Marsh Scene,” 1875 Contact gelatin silver print on paper Appears unsigned; titled and dated on an exhibition label affixed to the frame’s backing paper Sight: 4.875” H x 3.875” W $1,500-2,500 Provenance: The Edward W. Boulton Collection The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Private Collection, New York, NY Exhibited: Island Heights, NJ, The John F. Peto Studio Museum, “Thomas Eakins in New Jersey”, May 1- June 27, 2021 Lambertville, NJ, Pedersen Gallery, “Thomas Eakins Artist of the Common Man,” June 10-24, 2023 Notes: The John F. Peto Studio Museum alternatively titled this work “Study for Will Shuster and Blackman Going Shooting.”

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Dr. Amy Conger’s reference books on Edward Weston

Comprising two boxes containing approximately 50 photography auction catalogues with Conger’s marginalia on various lots, and approximately 52 hardcover and paperback monographs, other staple-bound pamphlets, and reference books on Edward Weston, some profusely annotated by Conger $800-1,200 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger Notes: Titles including but not limited to: Edward Weston: Photographs, Through Another Lens: My Years with Edward Weston, California and the West, Edward Weston: 125 Photographs, Edward Weston: Color Photography, The Letters Between Edward Weston and Willard Van Dyke, Edward Weston: La Mirada de la Ruptura, Edward Weston: The Last Years in Carmel, Brett Weston: Voyage of the Eye, Edward Weston: The Form of the Nude, Margrethe Mather & Edward Weston: A Passionate Collaboration, Passion and Precision: Photographs From the Collection of Margaret W. Weston, Laughing Eyes: A Book of Letters Between Edward and Cole Weston, Edward Weston: La Forma del Desnudo, Edward Weston in Mexico 1923-1926, Edward Weston and Clarence John Laughlin: An Introduction to the Third World of Photography, The Artificial of the Real: Anton Josef Trcka, Edward Weston, Helmut Newton, Edward Weston 1886-1958, Edward Weston’s Book of Nudes, Edward Weston’s California Landscapes, Edward Weston: Portraits, Edward Weston On Photography, The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Edward Weston Omnibus, Watkins to Weston: 101 Years of California Photography 1849-1950

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Dr. Amy Conger’s books and research files on Tina Modotti

Comprising approximately 43 reference books, hardcover, and paperback monographs, staple-bound pamphlets, and periodicals on Modotti with Conger’s marginalia, as well as Conger’s extensive research papers, file folders, bound and unbound manuscripts, and correspondence between Conger and galleries, publishers, and various research sources $1,000-1,500 Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger Notes: Titles including but not limited to: Tina Modotti: Between Art and Revolution, Tina Modotti: Una Lente Para La Revolucion, Tina Modotti: Image Texture Photography, Shadows, Fire, Snow, The Life of Tina Modotti, Tina Modotti: Una Vita Nella Storia, Tina Modotti: La Grande Mostra del 1929, Modotti y Weston: Mexicanidad, Tina Modotti: Photographer and Revolutionary, Tina Modotti: Photographs, Tina Modotti: A Fragile Life, Frida Kahlo/Tina Modotti, Tina Modotti: In Carinzia e in Friuli, Tina Modotti & Edward Weston: Mexican Years, Tina Modotti: Photographien & Dokumente, Tina Modotti: Leben, Werk, Schriften, Tina Modotti: Photographs 1923-1929, Tina Modotti: A Life, Tina Modotti: Photographer and Revolutionary, Tina Modotti: Fotografa e Rivoluzionaria

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Merle Armitage

(1893-1975) “The Art of Edward Weston,” 1932 Hardcover book Armitage, Merle. “The Art of Edward Weston.” New York: E. Weyhe, 1932 Edition: 261/500 Signed and numbered to colophon: Edward Weston 13.75” H x 10.5” W x 0.875” D $800-1,200 Provenance: From the Frederick W. Davis library Notes: This lot is accompanied by three newspaper clippings on Weston’s work from The New York Times, one dated December 8, 1940, and another dated February 17, 1946.

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Henderson, G. C.; Oliver, Robt. A.; and Weston, Edward

“Tropico: The City Beautiful,” 1915 Multi-page promotional booklet illustrated with numerous sepia-tone photographs by Weston, in-texte, on smooth off-white paper, and brown paper covers with letterpress image and title printed in colors, with stitch binding; according to the title page, this was an “Official Program and Souvenir of the Knights of Pythias Carnival, given by Visor and Miraderia Lodges at Tropico, California, Thursday, June 24, 1915;” The Valley Press, Tropico, CA, pub.

9.5” H x 6” W x 0.25” D $300-500 Provenance: The Estate of Amy Conger Notes: According to one of the title pages of this small booklet, the text for this promotional booklet was written by G. C. Henderdson and Robert A. Oliver, whereas the many photographs of the town’s residential and commercial buildings were taken by Edward Weston while he was still in his late-20s. Certain pages are set aside for advertisements by various local businesses, both large and small, however, “Edward Henry Weston / Modern Portraiture / Just North of City Hall, Tropico / Visitors Welcome” was given a coveted spot on the inside of the front cover to advertise his burgeoning business. Additionally, one of the photographs within the text pages of the booklet shows Weston’s small studio with an entranceway bordered by abundant, blossoming flowers. Who wouldn’t want to consider settling in this town after Mr. Oliver extends the following invitation, “Come to Tropico. Here you will inhale into your whole body the freshness of the spirit of Spring, the loveliness of the spirit of Summer, the peacefulness of the spirit of Autumn, the strength of the spirit of Winter; while your cares will fade away like the last rays of the sun.”

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Dr. Amy Conger’s research files on Edward Weston

Celebrated art historian Dr. Amy Conger’s comprehensive life study of Edward Weston and his photography.

Comprising approximately 25 boxes containing: Archive folders of research for her work on Edward Weston divided by year between roughly 1903-1943, carousel slides, scrapbooks, notebooks, photos, proofs, lecture tapes, dissertations, and ephemera, as well as copies of correspondence between Weston and Ansel Adams, Weston and Beaumont Newhall, and between Amy Conger and various dealers, galleries, and publishers, additionally with various files on other individuals within Weston’s circle and annotated drafts/manuscripts of Conger’s own works, both published and possibly unpublished This exhaustive lot contains volumes of information, carefully compiled over decades by Conger in her study of Weston. Beginning with supporting material providing the foundation for her PhD dissertation, Edward Weston’s Early Photography, 1903-1926 the collection is vast and encompasses other seminal projects by the art historian including Edward Weston in Mexico, 1923-1926 and Edward Weston: Photographs (from the Center for Creative Photography).

Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger

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Condition Reports

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1 Overall good condition. Very slight abrasion along the extreme sheet edges. Residue from previous adhesive along the upper edge of the sheet, verso. The sheet is hinged to the mount in two places with pieces of tape affixed to the verso of the upper sheet edge.

Framed under Plexiglas: 16” H x 13” W x 1.25” D 2 Overall good condition. A small tear in the lower center.

The work is affixed to the mount by four tissue corners and pieces of white tape.

Framed under glass: 20.25” H x 16.25” W x 1” D 3 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 4 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 5 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 6 Overall good condition. Light staining to the mount.

Scattered areas of staining to the mount, the largest measuring 1” H x 4” W on the lower edge of the mount, mostly at left, and ever-so-slightly affecting the signature, with an attendant area of damn staining, verso. A 2” tear to the mount in the lower edge, at left. A small paper loss in the extreme upper left corner. The sheet is tipped to the mount along the verso of the upper sheet edge, and the mount is hinged to the back mat from the verso of the upper edge.

Condition Reports

Unframed

118

7 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 8 Overall good condition. Very slight scuffing with surface loss in the extreme upper corners. Some skinning and surface residue on the verso of the image. The sheet is hinged to the backmat in two places by linen tape at the upper corners of the verso.

Framed under glass: 14.25” H x 11.25” W x 1.25” D 9 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D

10 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 11 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 12 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 13 Overall good condition.

Framed under Plexiglass: 17” H x 14.25” W x 1” D 14 Overall good condition. Very small and scattered areas of surface abrasion at the extreme sheet edges. Two peasized areas of old adhesive on the verso of the lower left and right corners of the sheet. Pale staining to the mount, both recto and verso. The sheet is tipped to the mount along the verso of the upper sheet edge, and the mount is hinged to the overmat with three pieces of hinging tape from the verso of the upper edge.

Framed under glass: 18.75” H x 14.25” W x 1.5” D 15 Available upon request.

Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 16 Framed under double-sided Plexiglas: 26” H x 22” W x 1” D 17 Overall good condition. The mount is affixed to the back mat with four paper archival corners.

Framed under Plexiglas: 17.5” H x 14.75” W x 1” D 18 Overall good condition. Very slight light staining to the board mount where exposed through the window opening of the overmat. Slight remains of old hinging tape at the upper corners of the board mount, verso.

Framed under glass: 20.25” H x 16.25” W x 1” D 19 Overall good condition. Pale mat staining to the sheet, verso. The sheet is hinged to the back mat with hinging tape from the upper left and right sheet corners, verso.

Framed under Plexiglas: 16.25” H x 20.25” W x 1” D

Framed under Plexiglas: 16.25” H x 20.25” W x 1” D 21 Overall good condition. Pale light staining to the mount.

The mount is affixed to the back mat with four clear archival corners.

Framed under Plexiglas: 16.25” H x 20” W x 1” D 22 Overall good condition. The mount is affixed to the back mat with three archival corners by the upper left and lower corners.

Unframed 23 Overall good condition. Pale light staining to the board mount. The mount is affixed to the back mat with three archival corners.

Framed under glass: 17.25” H x 21.25” W x 1.25” D 24 Overall good condition. The mount is affixed to the back mat with four paper archival corners.

Unframed 25 Each overall good condition. Not examined out of the frame.

Each framed under glass: 15.75” H x 14” W x 1” D 26 Overall good condition. Each with some soft abrasions and scuffing along the edges commensurate with age and handling. One with a 2” vertical tear towards the center of the lower edge. One with a pinhead-sized spot of surface loss in the lower right corner. One with scattered pinheadsized spots of surface loss in the lower left and right quadrants. The images are loose and not matted.

Unframed 27 Overall good condition. A 0.5” fold in the extreme upper left corner. Very small abrasions along each edge. The mount is affixed to the back mat with two archival corners.

Framed under Plexiglas: 20.5” H x 16.5” W x 1.5” D 28 Overall good condition. Old tape and skinning along the edges on the verso of the image. A pinhead-sizes spot of abrasion with attendant surface loss in the extreme upper left corner of the image. The image is hinged to the back mat in two places by pieces of archival white tape affixed to the verso of the upper edge corners.

Framed under Plexiglas:

29 Available upon request.

30 Overall good condition. The extreme tips of the corners of the mat board mount very slightly dog-eared, showing only on the verso.

Framed under glass: 17.25” H x 14.25” W x0.5” D 31 Overall good condition. The extreme tips of the lower corners of the mat board mount slightly dog-eared, showing primarily on the verso.

Framed under glass: 17.25” H x 14.25” W x 0.5” D 32 Overall good condition. The extreme tips of the upper and lower left corners of the mat board mount very slightly dog-eared.

Framed under glass: 14.25” H x 17.25” W x 0.5” D 33 Each overall good condition. One of fifteen examined out of the frame.

Framed under glass: 18.5” H x 14.5” W x 1” D or the reverse 34 Overall good condition. The sheet is affixed to the back mat with four clear archival corners.

Framed under Plexiglas: 20.25” H x 16.25” W x 1.5” D 35 Overall good condition. The mount is hinged to the overmat with white archival tape in two places at the upper edge corners of the mount.

Framed under Plexiglas: 16” H x 20” W x 1” D 36 Each overall good condition. With full margins. Taped to the overmat with white archival tape in three places from the verso of the margin edges. One of ten examined out of the frame.

Each framed under glass: 16.25” H x 20.25” W x 0.75” D 37 Overall good condition. The work is sealed in the mat.

Framed under glass: 13.25” H x 11.125” W 38 Overall good condition. The work is sealed in the mat.

Framed under glass: 13.125” H x 11” W x 1.75” D 39 Quantity is approximate. The contents of this lot are in used and worn condition, some annotated, dog-eared, or with applied notes. Lot sold in AS-IS condition. For all inquiries regarding content or condition, we invite you to view this lot in-person.

Condition Reports

20 Overall good condition. Pale staining to the recto and verso mount. Two 0.5” paper losses on the right edge, at center, a 0.75” tear in the upper edge, at right, a 2” fold in the lower left corner, and artist pinholes at each of the four corners, all on the mount.

119

40 Quantity is approximate. The contents of this lot are in used and worn condition, some annotated, dog-eared, or with applied notes. Lot sold in AS-IS condition. For all inquiries regarding content or condition, we invite you to view this lot in-person.

41 Overall good condition with mild bumping to corners and spine ends, rubbed wear to boards and board edges, and scattered shallow scratches and spots of surface loss.

Tanning, mild staining and soiling to spine. Tanning to page edges. Page 7 slightly separating from the binding at lower gutter.

42 Overall good condition. Slight time staining, shelf wear, surface soiling, and occasional damp staining mostly at the edges, commensurate with age and use. Various small paper loses and edge creases or short tears at the edges of the brown paper cover.

Unframed

Condition Reports

43 Quantity is approximate. The contents of this lot are in used and worn condition, some annotated, dog-eared, or with applied notes. Lot sold in AS-IS condition. For all inquiries regarding content or condition, we invite you to view this lot in-person.

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Bid Now

The Collection Of Frederick W. Davis: An American Abroad Including selections from the Estate of Amy Conger

12.6.2023

Brett Weston (1911-1993) “Dad,” 1940

Auction Inquiries: marandam@johnmoran.com

SINCE 1969

AUCTIONEERS & APPRAISERS

Reference 122

1. Weston’s first home/studio address in Mexico City was Avenida del Hipódromo 3, Colonia Nápoles. See Edward Weston, The Daybooks of Edward Weston: Vol. 1 Mexico, ed.

Nancy Newhall (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1973), 15. [August 20, 1923].

2. His second address was Lucerna 12, Colonia Juarez. See Weston, Daybooks, 21. [September 15, 1924].

3. His third address was Avenida Vera Cruz 42, Esquina Durango. See Weston, Daybooks, 71. [May 16, 1924].

4. See Weston, Daybooks, 90. [August 24, 1924].

5. See Frederick Walter Davis, November 3, 1917, U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925, General Records of the Department of State, National Archives and Records Administration.

6. Within the Davis family, it was generally believed that Fred Davis, who was homosexual, left for Mexico because of the prejudices he had encountered in his hometown.

7. See Frederick Walter Davis, Certificate of Registration of American Citizen, June 18, 1912, U.S. Consular Registration Certificates, 1907-1918.

8. See Frederick Walter Davis, Certificate of Registration of American Citizen; “The Art Collector,” Time (Latin American/English edition), August 12, 1957, 28, MS 3009, Time Inc. Archive, The New-York Historical Society Library, New York, NY. 9. See advertisement for Sonora News Company, circa 1910, online at http://www.geographicus.com/P/RareMaps/sonoranewscompany.

10. “The Art Collector,” Time, 28.

11. Weston, Daybooks, 99. [October 25, 1924].

12. Ibid., 101. [Monday, November 3, 1924].

13. Ibid., 103. [November 11, 1924].

14. Ibid., 105. [November 29, 1924].

15. Ibid., 106. [December 2, 1924].

16. Ibid., 107. [December 10, 1924].

17. Tina Modotti to Edward Weston, December 30, 1924, Edward Weston Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 18. Weston, Daybooks, 131. [Wednesday, October 14, 1925].

19. Patricia Albers, Shadows, Fire, Snow: The Life of Tina Modotti (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1999), 153.

20. Weston, Daybooks, 139. [November 25, 1925].

21. The most important of these traveling exhibitions curated by Rene d’Harnoncourt was The Loan Exhibition of Mexican Arts that opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in November 1930. See “Fred Davis’s Shop, circa 1925-1957,” Box 2, Folder 19, Page 1, Series 4: Printed Material 1921-1979, Rene d’Harnoncourt papers, 1921-1983, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. 22. See “O Tempora, O Mores! The old Latin reflection upon changing times….,” excerpt, The News [Mexico City], March 1, 1959, 10-A; April 9, 1961, 10-A, Frederick Walter Davis papers, John Moran Auctioneers, Monrovia, CA. 23. “Fred Davis’s Shop,” 1.

24. “Walgreen’s Goes South,” Time, June 24, 1946, http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0.9171.852890.00.html.

25. Among the dozens of visitors who signed Davis’s Cuernavaca guestbook during the late 1920s/early 1930s were singer Marian Anderson, artist Jacqueline Lamba Breton, artist Jean Charlot, author John Dos Passos, British parliamentarian Winston Churchill, museum curator Henry Clifford, novelist Edna Ferber, artist Marsden Hartley, author Aldous Huxley, artist Frida Kahlo, writer Katherine Anne Porter, artist Diego Rivera, classical guitarist Andrés Segovia, artist Rufino Tamayo, and publisher Frances Toor.

26. See “The finest collection of Mexican folk art in existence….,” Mexico This Month III, no. 9 (1957): 23, 27, Frederick Walter Davis papers, John Moran Auctioneers, Monrovia, CA; Daniel F. Rubin de la Borbolla, “The National Museum of Folk Art and Industry, Mexico, D.F.,” Museum 15, no. 1 (1962): 38-49, https://unesco.org/ark/48223/pf0000011455; Francisco Morales V., “Una colección histórica,” Reforma, January 12, 2022, http://www.reforma.com/una-coleccion-historica/ar2336198. Citations courtesy of Dr. Beatrice Oshika.

27. Dr. Rubin de la Borbolla [1903-1990] was a highly respected archeologist, anthropologist, and humanist whose chief interest was protecting the legacy of the indigenous people of Mexico. See “The finest collection of Mexican folk art in existence….,” Mexico This Month.

28. “The Art Collector,” Time, 28.

29. “The finest collection of Mexican folk art in existence….,” Mexico This Month.

30. It is not entirely clear what the final arrangements concerning Davis’s collection were. Although some sources indicate that the Mexican government paid him for the collection, other sources, e.g. Ambassador Hill’s letter, strongly suggest that he donated his collection to the government. Of course, it is possible that portions of Davis’s collection were purchased, while other portions were donated. In any case, when the Museo Nacional de Artes e Industrials Populares closed its doors in 1998, the contents of the museum, including Davis’s folk art and antiquities, became the property of the Acervo de Arte Indigena (Indigenous Art Collection), a branch of the Mexican government that loans portions of its vast holdings to a network of indigenous art museums throughout Mexico. See Morales V., “Una colección histórica.” Citation courtesy of Dr. Beatrice Oshika.

31. See Frederick Walter Davis, died March 7, 1961, “Report of the Death of an American Citizen,” June 16, 1961, Department of State, Foreign Service, United States of America; “In Memoriam,” The News [Mexico City], April 9, 1961, 10-A. 32. See “Edward Weston, The Bathing Pool,” Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, http://collections.museumca.org.

33. Brett Abbott, Edward Weston, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005), 18.

34. Beth Gates Warren, Artful Lives: Edward Weston, Margrethe Mather, and the Bohemians of Los Angeles (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011), 16, 166.

35. Citation courtesy of Susan Herzig & Paul Hertzmann, Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA. 36. Warren, Artful Lives, 346-348.

37. Edward Weston to Johan Hagemeyer, April 13, 1920, Edward Weston/Johan Hagemeyer Collection, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 38. Amy Conger, Edward Weston: Photographs (Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, 1982), fig. 28.

39. Imogen Cunningham (Partridge) to Edward Weston, July 27, 1920, Edward Weston Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 40. Beth Gates Warren, “Exhibition Chronologies,” Artful Lives: Edward Weston, Margrethe Mather, and the Bohemians of Los Angeles (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011), 348-350.

41. Edward Weston to Johan Hagemeyer, April 9, 1923, Edward Weston/Johan Hagemeyer Collection, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 42. See the other images from this series illustrated in Amy Conger, Edward Weston: Photographs (Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, 1992), figs.

92-95.

43. See “Mr. Edward Weston, Fotôgrapho de Fama Mundial que Ayer Inauguró una Exposición de sus Admirables Trabajos,” El Universal Ilustrado [Mexico City], October 18, 1923, sec. 2, 1. Citation courtesy of Susan Herzig & Paul Hertzmann, Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA. 44. C. J. Ocampo, “Las Fotografias de Edward Weston,” El Automóvil en México, November 1923, 15. Citation courtesy of Susan Herzig & Paul Hertzmann, Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA. 45. Edward Weston, The Daybooks of Edward Weston: Vol. 1 Mexico, ed. Nancy Newhall (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1973), 25. [October 30, 1923].

46. Ibid., 27. [November 4, 1923].

47. Edward Weston to “Beloved Grey-Boy” [Neil Weston], September 6, 1923, Edward Weston Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 48. See two variant images illustrated in Amy Conger, Edward Weston: Photographs (Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, 1992), figs. 78–79.

49. See “La suprema expression fotografica de la mujer,” El Universal Ilustrado [Mexico City], October 16, 1924, 39. Citation courtesy of Susan Herzig & Paul Hertzmann, Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA. 50. Edward Weston, The Daybooks of Edward Weston: Vol. 1 Mexico, ed. Nancy Newhall (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1973), 48-49. [Feburary 7 and 20, 1924].

51. Ibid., 90. [August 15, 1924].

52. Ibid., 90. [August 15, 1924].

53. Monna Alfau, quoted in Weston, Daybooks, 91. [August 31, 1924].

54. Weston, Daybooks, 91. [August 31, 1924].

55. Edward Weston to Flora Weston, “Notes,” October 2, 1924, included in a letter dated October 5, 1924, Edward Weston Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 56. See Francisco Monterde Garcia Icazbalceta, “Arte. La Exposición de Edward Weston,” Antena: Revista, no. 5 (November 1924): 11, and “El Cielo de Mexico,” La Antorcha 1:7 (November 15, 1924): 21. Citations courtesy of Susan Herzig & Paul Hertzmann, Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA. 57. Edward Weston, The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Vol. 1 Mexico, ed. Nancy Newhall (Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1973), 139. [November 23, 1925].

58. Ibid., 139. [December 1, 1925].

59. Edward Weston to Flora Weston, “Notes,” September 30, 1924, included in a letter dated October 5, 1924, Edward Weston Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 60. Edward Weston to Johan Hagemeyer, November 18, 1922, Edward Weston/Johan Hagemeyer Collection, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 61. Francisco Monterde Garcia Icazbalceta, “Arte. La Exposición de Edward Weston,” Antena: Revista Mensual (November 1924): 11. Citation courtesy of Susan Herzig & Paul Hertzmann, Paul Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, CA. 62. See nude abstractions illustrated in Amy Conger, Edward Weston: Photographs (Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, 1992), figs. 725-735, 741-742, 751-759, 769-772, 811-853.

Bid Now

Latin American Art + Design 12.7.2023 Fernando Botero (1932-2023) Couple dancing, 1980 Watercolor on paper laid to linen on board, 65.5” H x 42.75” W $150,000-200,000

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SINCE 1969

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SINCE 1969

AUCTIONEERS & APPRAISERS

w w w. j o h n m o r a n . c o m · i n f o @ j o h n m o r a n . c o m · ( 6 2 6 ) 7 9 3 - 1 8 3 3