Artist of the day, January 29, 2022: Edward Henry Weston, an American photographer (#1483)

Edward Henry Weston (1886 – 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his 40-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of subjects, including landscapes, still-lifes, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies. It is said that he developed a "quintessentially American, and especially Californian, approach to modern photography" because of his focus on the people and places of the American West. In 1937 Weston was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, and over the next two years he produced nearly 1,400 negatives using his 8 × 10 view camera. Some of his most famous photographs were taken of the trees and rocks at Point Lobos, California, near where he lived for many years.

Weston was born in Chicago and moved to California when he was 21. He knew he wanted to be a photographer from an early age, and initially his work was typical of the soft focus pictorialism that was popular at the time. Within a few years, however, he abandoned that style and went on to be one of the foremost champions of highly detailed photographic images.

In 1947 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and he stopped photographing soon thereafter. He spent the remaining ten years of his life overseeing the printing of more than 1,000 of his most famous images.

© 2022. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Edward Henry Weston or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only 

Edward Henry Weston

 Epilogue, 1919

 Refracted Sunlight on Torso, 1922

 Guadalupe, 1923

 Nahui Olin, 1923

 Diego Rivera, 1924

 Galvan Shooting, 1924

 Tina with Tear, 1924

  Plaster Works, Los Angeles, 1925

 Nude, 1925

 Nude, Mexico, 1925

 Nude, 1927

Shell, 1927

Shell, 1927

Shell, 1927

Shell, 1927

 Pepper, 1929

 Pepper, 1930

 Cabbage Leaf, 1931

 Nude, 1934

Dunes, Oceano, 1936

Nude, 1936

Nude, 1936

Aspen Valley, New Mexico, 1937

Eel River Ranch, 1937

 Juniper at Lake Tenaya, 1937

 Nude, New Mexico, 1937

 Surf China Cove Point Lobos, 1938

 Lily and Glass, 1939

 Church Door Hornitos, 1940

 Mammy, 1941

Willie, New Orleans, 1941