Edward Weston

mounted, initialed and dated by the photographer in pencil on the mount, signed, titled, dated, numbered 'ML40-H-6' and inscribed 'To John [Seaman]--remembering New York in 1922, E - 1945' by him in pencil on the reverse, matted, 1940, printed no later than 1945 

The photographer to his brother-in-law, John Seaman, 1945

By descent to his daughter, Jeannette Seaman

By descent to her nephew, John W. Longstreth

The Dayton Art Institute, Edward Weston's Gifts to His Sister, January - March 1978, and traveling to:

New York, International Center of Photography, July - September 1978; and

Oakland Museum, February - March 1979

The Dayton Art Institute, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life, February - July 2004, and traveling to:

Oregon, Portland Art Museum, September - November 2004

Omaha, Joslyn Art Museum, January - April 2005; and

Rochester, George Eastman House, April - September 2005

This print:

Kathy Kelsey Foley, Edward Weston's Gifts to His Sister (The Dayton Art Institute, 1978, in conjunction with the exhibition), pp. 7 and 53

Alexander Lee Nyerges, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life (The Dayton Art Institute, 2004, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 57

Other prints of this image:

Conger 1505

Nancy Newhall, ed., Edward Weston: The Flame of Recognition (Aperture, 1967), p. 89

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photographs of Edward Weston (Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, 1986, in conjunction with the exhibition), cat. 215

Heiting, Manfred, ed., Edward Weston (Köln, 2004), p. 181

Jennifer A. Watts, ed., Edward Weston, A Legacy (Los Angeles: The Huntington Library, 2003, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 56

We believe that characteristics of this print--the paper with its slight surface sheen; the smooth, cream-colored board mount; the initialing and dating on the mount and full signature, title, date, and negative number by the photographer in pencil on the reverse are representative of what we believe to be the prime state of this image from the 1940s. It is in generally excellent condition. When examined in raking light, the following can be seen: a few tiny deposits of original retouching; a very faint hairline scratch in the area at the center of the door; and two small (1/4-inch) pale and faintly rust-colored deposits of indeterminate nature in the upper right door panel area of the door and the area of the door to the left of the doorknob. These are all visible only upon close examination. There is light soiling on the front and back of the mount, and age-darkening at the periphery. There are 6 thin remnants of shiny tape on the edges of the front of the mount. On the reverse of the mount, there is a number, 'L19.1993.85,' written in an unidentified hand in pencil.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The photograph offered here, Church Door, Motherlode, is better known by the alternate title Church Door, Hornitos, California.  It was made at the time of the first photography workshop held in Yosemite, the U. S. Camera Photographic Forum of 1940, taught by both Weston and Ansel Adams.  Hornitos, in Mariposa County, was a booming, rough-and-tumble town in the nineteenth century, but at the time of Weston's visit, almost a ghost town, one of the best-preserved in the Mother Lode country.  The door pictured is the door of St. Catherine's Catholic Church, built in 1862 and still standing today.

The print offered here was a special gift to John Seaman, May Seaman's husband, an electrical engineer.  Around 1920-21, the Seaman family moved from California to Middletown, Ohio, and when Edward visited them there in 1922, John Seaman arranged permission for him to photograph at the Armco Steel plant, a project that produced some of Weston's first modernist images.  The Seamans then generously gave him one hundred dollars to continue on to New York, where he met, among others, Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Paul Strand, and Charles Sheeler.  As Weston recorded many years later in his journal,

'I had gone to visit sister May and John and family in Middletown, Ohio, prior to sailing for Mexico—a farewell visit for which John sent money.  Well, John and May got their heads together, decided to help me on to New York since I was already almost there, and might not have such a chance again. 

'The Middletown visit was something to remember with auto drives through the hills and dales of Miami Valley, all resplendent in autumn colors . . . But most of all in importance was my photographing of "Armco," the great plant and giant stacks of the American Rolling Mill Co.  That day I made great photographs, even Stieglitz thought they were important! . . .

'The reunion with Sis and family was all and more than I had hoped for.  John's interest in my work was outstanding and deeply appreciated by me.  It was his desire to help me on to New York' (Daybooks, I, 'Fragments from Early Daybooks,' p. 8)  

In addition to two prints of this image in the Edward Weston Archive at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson (one a gift of Ansel and Virginia Adams), Conger locates prints in thirteen institutions, among them: the Art Institute of Chicago, the George Eastman House in Rochester, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Huntington Library, The Museum of Modern Art, the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.