Edward Weston

mounted, signed and dated in pencil on the mount, 1942

Frank H. Boos Gallery, 1 February 2001, Lot 800

Other prints of this image: Travis, Edward Weston: The Last Years in Carmel, p. 87; Charis Wilson, Edward Weston: Nudes, p. 106; Nancy Newhall, ed., The Flame of Recognition, p. 80; Maddow, Edward Weston: Fifty Years, p. 269; Stebbins, Weston's Westons: Portraits and Nudes, p. 137; Stebbins, Edward Weston: Photography and Modernism, pl. 132; Watts, Edward Weston: A Legacy, p. 47; Charis Wilson and Wendy Madar, Through Another Lens: My Years with Edward Weston, fig. 84

This rich and detailed print is on paper with a semi-glossy surface and is mounted to thin, smooth off-white board. It is essentially in excellent condition. When examined closely in raking light some very faint creasing can be seen in the lower left quadrant which was either present in the print prior to mounting, or occurred during the mounting process. This is unobtrusive. There is very faint age-appropriate silvering on the periphery. The mount is clean, aside from some faint scattered soiling in the reverse.
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.

During World War II, Charis Weston volunteered for the Aircraft Warning Service, a group of citizens who took shifts monitoring the skies over the California coast for enemy planes. Because of her involvement in this civilian defense effort, she was issued a gas mask.  She recounted that when she first brought it home, Weston suggested making a series of nude studies:

'Both of us were repelled by the mask, and found [making the photographs] harder than expected.  He said repeatedly that it was an awful thing, and difficult to make part of the picture rather than the picture; for a counterweight he tried a fern frond from the yard, and then a plate of peaches' (Through Another Lens: My Years with Edward Weston, p. 309). 

Two photographs resulted from this sitting: the present image, and a more prosaic, vertical-format, seated nude (Conger 1695).   Prints of either image are scarce.  The negative for the photograph offered here is not owned by the Center for Creative Photography, the repository of Weston's negatives; and, as Conger relates, the negative for the vertical-format study was saved from destruction by Bea Prendergast, who later donated it to the Center.  At Edward Weston's insistence, both images were included in his 1946 retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art.