NEWS
A FINE BALANCE A beautiful new monograph marking 125 years since Edward Weston’s birth sheds new light on the great American photographer, revealing more about the man behind some of the most celebrated imagery since the medium’s inception. Anna Bonita Evans reports.
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here’s no doubt that Edward Weston was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. Celebrated for his creativity, tonal contrast and remarkable ability to balance the real and the abstract – an approach he coined as Seeing Plus – Weston accelerated photography out of the Victorian age towards a modernist aesthetic. This sumptuous new book published by Chronicle Chroma is a worthy tribute to the great photographer. Marking 125 years since his birth, the clothbound hardback holds 125 photographs paired with the same number of excerpts from Weston’s personal journals – or as he called them, daybooks. Again we enjoy reading about his pivotal role in Group f/64, his creative awakening in
Mexico, his colourful love life, unwavering commitment to his sons, and how his career was cut short by his debilitating battle with Parkinson’s disease. Yet as well as the comprehensive chronological rundown, this book asks us to look again at the great American photographer. While his classic studies have made an indelible mark on the photographic medium, it’s intriguing to see his images accompanied by his writing, which was stylistically quite different. Author Steve Crist uses the book format to his advantage and reveals more about the man behind the famous images of the peppers. By creatively partnering the photographer’s words and images on each double-page spread, we gain fresh insight and see how Weston approached the two mediums disparately. While Weston’s
photographs are exceedingly beautiful, they have simplicity and are devoid of decoration. They are a stark contrast to his diaries, where there’s a forgivable weakness for an unduly romantic style. Included in Crist’s introductory essay are scanned pages from Weston’s journals, where we see his wonderfully ornate handwriting and his love for mystery and secrecy. Take for example his retelling of his encounters with his many lovers, their names represented only by their initials or the letter X. There are many passages readers will enjoy, including those where Weston exclaims his astonishment at his irresistible attraction to women: ‘What have I, that bring these many women to offer themselves to me? I do not go out of my way seeking them – I am not a
