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Edward Weston: Seventy Photographs
Edward Weston (photographs); Ben Maddow (text)
Edward Weston was one of the giants of twentieth-century photography, the man who could make a green pepper or a nautilus shell look like a study in pure sculptural form. This Aperture volume gathers seventy of his images—the nudes, shells, vegetables, and stark Western landscapes that defined his vision—alongside Ben Maddow's biographical text drawn from the acclaimed *Edward Weston: Fifty Years*. It's both a compact retrospective and a serious life, pairing the pictures with the story of the restless, self-schooled Californian who helped invent modern American photography and co-founded Group f/64. The reproductions honor Weston's obsessive craftsmanship and his belief in the sharp, unmanipulated print. For anyone wanting a single, well-made introduction to one of the medium's essential figures, this is an ideal place to begin.
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The artist
Edward Weston (1886–1958) moved from soft-focus pictorialism to a rigorous, sharply detailed modernism, becoming a founder of the influential Group f/64 with Ansel Adams and others. His nudes, close-ups of peppers and shells, and views of Point Lobos and the California coast are landmarks of the medium.
The book
Edward Weston: Seventy Photographs was issued by Aperture with the New York Graphic Society, pairing a selection of seventy images with the complete text of Ben Maddow's Edward Weston: Fifty Years, a biography that had been nominated for a National Book Award. This is a well-produced paperback edition combining portfolio and life.
How it reads
The images have lost none of their power, and Maddow's text remains a substantial account of Weston's art and turbulent personal life. Later scholarship has added to the record, but as an accessible combination of pictures and biography it is hard to beat.
For more context
Weston's insistence on 'previsualization' and the fine straight print shaped generations of photographers, and his daybooks remain essential reading on the creative life.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Edward Weston (photographs); Ben Maddow (text)
- Publisher
- Aperture / New York Graphic Society (Little, Brown)
- Place of publication
- Millerton, New York
- Year
- 1978
- Edition
- First paperback edition
- ISBN
- None
- Format
- Paperback
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Maine
70 photographs + the complete text of 'Edward Weston: Fifty Years' (Ben Maddow). ISBN 0-8212-0738-5; nominated for the 1975 National Book Award.