Edward Weston

Edward Weston (* 24. March 1886, † 1. January 1958) was one of the most important American photographers 20. Century and joint founder of the group of f/64.

Already to lifetimes it was considered as master and a classical author of the artistic black-and-white photography. It created most works with a 8x10-Zoll disk camera.

life

Edward Weston became to 24. March 1886 in Highland park, Illinois/the USA born. 1902 he got his first camera to its 16. Birthday, a Kodak Bull's Eye No. 2; since it was successful with its photographies, already 1903 pictures of the young Weston were issued to kind of institutes in Chicago.

1906 moved Weston to California , where he established himself and as Portraitfotograf developed an existence. 1909 he married its first wife, Flora May Chandler, with which together he had four sons: Chandler (1910), board (1911), Neil (1914) and Cole (1919).

1911 opened its first photo studio in Tropico to Weston (now Glendale (California)) and article wrote over its unorthodox method of the Porträtierens for some magazines.

The year 1922 was a phase of paging for Weston: It turned away from the usual market Piktorialismus and to the advocate of realism and “straight photography”. it pulled and became acquainted with 1923 after Mexico city there the photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo . It sympathized to Mexico as well as Tina Modotti , which was both its photographic Kompagnon and its model and its loving with the Mexican revolution and bereiste, which also at that time already went through the rainbow press, since Weston was already relatively famous.

Often the two by one of the sons were accompanied, whereby these got quasi besides founded training in photography. In this field later both board and Cole made career.

1928 pulled Weston back after Carmel, created a studio and trained its son board as the photographer.

Since 1927 Weston selected mainly document, in addition, articles such as shells and vegetables as photographic topic. After some exhibitions of its work in New York it initiated 1932 the establishment of the group of f/64 as well as the photographer colleagues Ansel Adam, Willard van Dyke and other one.

1937 were appointed Weston the Guggenheim Fellow; he was a first photographer, who this honor assign became. In the year after he married its female assistant Charis Wilson. In this time it published several books, some of it with Wilson together. An expenditure of roll Whitmans Leaves OF Grass with his photographies one illustrated. It produced 1947 also some - in its Œuvre rare - color photographies as well as wanting pool of broadcasting corporations van Dyke.

1948 got sick to Weston at the park in on illness and could not photograph soon thereafter no more. It took its last photographs at the wild coast of the POINT Lobos. 1952 were published on the occasion of its 50-jährigen of “photography anniversary” a Portfolio of its work, the departures were manufactured by its son board.

In the years 1955 - 56 it intended his sons board and Cole as well as board Mrs. Dody Warren for it to manufacture from altogether about 800 negatives, which it regarded as its most important, under its supervision of departures.

Edward Weston died in his house in Carmel (California) at the New Year's Day 1958. Its deduction contains also its detailed diaries, which it led regularly since center of the 1920er years until 1934 and whose study us today still another gives very intimate idea of its ideas and motives.

work

the term f/64, which gave the group the name along-justified of Weston, refers to the practically smallest possible Blendenöffnung of a large size camera (theoretical to 256), which guarantees the greatest possible sharpness depth and to a photo from the foreground to the background going through sharpness lends. Screen 64 to use, is straight thereby the consequence of the guidelines “photography” and the logical answer to the Piktorialisten prevailing at that time, which was verpönt at the painting oriented and with those sharpness. The change of style settled in a prevention of „the conventional “art photography, paired with a turn for contrary current, “the new Sachlichkeit”.

In accordance with the communist manifesto of their group “… the members of the group f/64 are convinced of the fact that photography must develop as art form in a direction, which is determined only by the conditions and restrictions of the photographic medium, and that the photography must remain always independent of ideological conventions of an art and an aesthetics; because those are leftovers of an epoch and a culture, as they existed before the emergence of the photography. “

Edward Westons preferential topic were landscapes, document, nature and plant details of large sharpness depth, extraordinary detail wealth and purify light dark gradations. The elaboration of its departures became watching in the course of the time more abstractly and more artifizieller. Whether it concerns Sanddünen, a dead piece driving wood, a woman act, a Nautilus shell or a Paprikaschote, Edward Weston tried to go to the structure of the things on the reason and was in it a possessed perfectionist. As result of its Benühungen often lasting for weeks, over which one can reread in its diaries, it delivered departures with such a extensive clay/tone value and structure wealth that the viewer can feel the surface of the shown article or body already nearly: with Edward Weston can the illustration of a usual Paprikaschote on the viewer just as erotisch work as an act admission.

Web on the left of

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| | * Literature of and over Edward Weston in the catalog of the DDB

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• more information, exhibitions and books to Edward Weston
• Portfolio with Masters-of-Photograpy.com (English)
• Offzielle English Website with many famous photographies