Edward Weston

mounted, with a copyright symbol by the photographer in pencil on the mount, numbered 'W36-P171' and inscribed with the Limited Editions Club copyright by him and numbered in unidentified hands in pencil and with a typed label, quoting Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, on the reverse, matted, 1941 

The photographer to his sister, Mary Weston Seaman

By descent to her 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

The Oakland Museum, Spring 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

This print:

Kathy Kelsey Foley, Edward Weston's Gifts to His Sister (The Dayton Art Institute, 1978, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 54

Alexander Lee Nyerges, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life (The Dayton Art Institute, 2004, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 62

Another print of this image:

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, with illustrations by Edward Weston, the Paddington Press reprint of the 1942 Limited Editions Club edition (New York, 1970), facing p. 93

This photograph, on slightly cool, semi-matte paper, is in generally excellent condition. There is a faint patina of silvering in the darkest areas of the print, a typical indication of the photograph's age. As for any print whose primary purpose was at one time publication, the surface shows faint scattered imperfections, largely visible only in raking light. There are a handful of miniscule chips along the print's edges. The photograph is on a heavy-weight, cream-colored mount that has darkened with age. On the reverse, along one vertical edge, there are the remains of paper and adhesive, likely from a sheet of paper overlay that was at one time attached. There is also a paper remnant along the bottom edge, on the reverse, where a caption may have been attached. Portions of two old linen hinges on the reverse cover a small part of the typed label.
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.
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The label reads:

'Song of the Exposition:

'#7)  "With latest connections, works, the inter-

'transportation of the world, steam power...

'petroleum,..with lines of steamships," etc.......W 36'

The Gulf Oil Refinery was located on Port Arthur's Sabine Lake, a salt-water estuary that connects to the Gulf of Mexico.  In the photograph offered here, Weston narrows his focus on the two oil tankers docked at the water's edge.  The oil barrels in the foreground, the tankers, and the tanks in the distance allude to all aspects of the refinery's production and distribution.  For Weston, however, it was the site's unique industrial forms and the confluence of lines and angles that made Gulf Oil so attractive to him.  This print is one of two photographs of the Gulf Oil Refinery that Weston sent to his sister.

This study of oil tankers was included in the Leaves of Grass volume.  At the time of this writing, no other prints of this image have been located.