Edward Weston 1886-1958

mounted, signed, dated, and numbered '20-50' by the photographer in pencil on the mount, numbered '42-T,' dated '1930,' inscribed 'To Sonya, A Valentine which carries tender thoughts and love,' signed 'Edward,' and dated '1935' by the photographer in pencil on the reverse, matted, 1930, printed no later than 1935, no. 20 in a projected edition of 50

The photographer to Sonya Noskowiak, 1935

Other prints of this image:

Conger 593

Edward Weston, My Camera on Point Lobos (New York, 1950), pl. 9

David Travis, Edward Weston: The Last Years in Carmel (Chicago, 2001), p. 18

Charis Weston, Edward Weston: Nudes (Aperture, 1977), p. 70

James Enyeart, Edward Weston’s California Landscapes (Boston, 1984), pl. 46

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants (Boston, 1986, in conjunction with the exhibition originating at the Center for Creative Photography), pl. 111

Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Karen Quinn, and Leslie Furth, Edward Weston: Photography and Modernism (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1999), pl. 46

Ben Maddow, Edward Weston: Fifty Years (Aperture, 1973), p. 132

Peter C. Bunnell and David Featherstone, eds., EW 100: Centennial Essays in Honor of Edward Weston (Carmel, 1986), p. 32

The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Volume II, California (Aperture, 1973), pl. 16

As evidenced by the inscription on the reverse of this print, it was given by Edward Weston to his lover, Sonya Noskowiak (1900-1975), in 1935.  Born in Germany, Noskowiak met Weston in 1929.  She became his darkroom assistant, and then, as with so many of Weston's female friends and acquaintances, his lover.  A talented photographer in her own right, Noskowiak was one of the founding members of Group f.64, the leading proponents of 'straight photography' on the West Coast.  Her romance with Weston ended in 1935, when he became involved with Charis Wilson, who later became his second wife.  During her relationship with Weston, Noskowiak received a number of photographs from him, aside from the print offered here.  The Noskowiak Collection at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson includes 58 original photographs by Weston.