Name: EDWARD WESTON (1886–1958)
Brand: Nude, 1934
Price: 30000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

EDWARD WESTON (1886–1958)
Nude, 1934
gelatin silver print, flush-mounted on board
signed, dated and variously numbered in pencil (flush mount, verso)
image/sheet/flush mount: 3¹⁄₄ x 4¹⁄₂ in. (8.2 x 11.4 cm.)

Cole Weston (1919–2003);
David van Riper (El Mochuelo Gallery, Santa Barbara);
acquired from the above by a private collector;
Christie's, New York, April 21, 1994, lot 393;
Christie's, New York, An American Journey: The Diann G. & Thomas A. Mann Collection of Photographic Masterworks, October 5, 2018, lot 37;
acquired from the above sale by the present owner.

Ben Maddow, Edward Weston: Fifty Years, Aperture Foundation, New York, 1973, p. 173.
Charis Wilson, Edward Weston: Nudes, Aperture Foundation, New York, 1977, p. 64.
Peter C. Bunnell, EW 100: Centennial Essays in Honor of Edward Weston, The Friends of Photography, Carmel, 1986, p. 86.
Amy Conger, Edward Weston: Photographs from the Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, 1992, fig. 853/1934.
Nancy Newhall, Edward Weston’s Book of Nudes, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2007, pl. 8.

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Lot Essay

Edward Weston’s 1934 Nudes (lots 16 and 18) stand as a pivotal works in his modernist exploration of the human form. Rather than emphasizing sensuality, Weston approached Charis Wilson’s body with the same compositional precision he brought to landscapes, transforming it into a study of curves, light, and shadow. The tightly framed images marked a personal turning point for Weston, who later wrote, “The first nudes of C. were easily amongst the finest I had done, perhaps the finest. I was definitely interested now, and knew that she knew I was. I felt a response...And I was lost and have been ever since. A new and important chapter in my life opened on Sunday afternoon, April 22, 1934” (Edward Weston, The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Volume II, 1973, p. 283).

More than a subject, Charis Wilson played an active role in the creative process. Her ease and trust in front of the camera allowed Weston to explore the nude as something natural and unposed, shaping some of the most intimate and enduring photographs of his career.