Edward Weston

mounted, signed, dated, initialed, and numbered '3/50' by the photographer in pencil on the mount, titled and numbered '2F' by him in pencil and titled again in an unidentified hand in ink on the reverse, matted, 1930, no. 3 in a projected edition of 50 

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; and

The 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), p. 44

Alexander Lee Nyerges, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life (The Dayton Art Institute, 2004, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 68 and pl. 24

This is an exemplary print, with a wide range of soft silver-gray tones, rich detail-filled blacks, and the slightest bit of white apparent in the highlight areas. Overall, the print is in generally excellent condition. There is a small 1/2-inch sharp crease at the bottom right corner, and a 1/8-inch crescent-shaped crease at the left center of the image. These are visible only upon close inspection, and appear to have occurred prior to or during the mounting process, as the mount is not affected. In raking light, silvering is visible in the darkest areas of the print. The photograph is mounted to a thin buff board. There is very slight age-darkening on the front and back. At the bottom of the side edges there is a single strip of shiny adhesive tape, approximately 1 1/2-inches long, adhered to the mount. On the reverse, there is a small strip at the bottom left where the top layer of the mount's ply has abraded from a previous adhesive. At the top edge, there are two linen hinges, and a small area of soiling from previous adhesive tape that is no longer present.
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 is from a series of ten negatives Weston made of bananas in June of 1930.  Weston had first begun work with the banana in the spring of 1927, the year he began his transformative photographs of shells and vegetables.  'I was awake at 4,' Weston wrote in his journal for 4 April 1927, 'with my mind full of banana forms!  How exciting they are to work with!  I have two new loves--bananas and shells.'  After thwarted attempts to photograph successive purchases of bananas, which were all too quickly eaten by his sons, Weston exposed only two negatives before returning to his work with the equally inspiring, but inedible, shells. 

Three years would pass before Weston took up the banana as a subject again. In June of 1930, he appears to have discovered the perfect bunch of bananas to carry out his earlier intentions. On June 19^th, he wrote of that day's trip to the grocery store, where he found fruits and vegetables that would keep him 'going for days to come: bananas--not new to my work; I had done two negatives in 1927, and then was sidetracked.  But how much better I can do them now! And what exciting curves, forms, this bunch had.  I know from my thrill upon seeing them that something important is coming.'

On June 26^th, his journal entry recorded his success.  In addition to a study of the bananas standing on end, he made one more negative that he considered important, 'a close-up, lines radiating from the main stalk, the axis' (Daybooks, California, 4 April 1927, 19 June 1930, and 26 June 1930).

A print of Weston's study of bananas standing on end was sold in these rooms in February 2006, part of the sale of Important Photographs from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Including Works from the Gilman Paper Company Collection (Sale 8165, Lot 64).  Weston's negative log at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson indicates that, of the projected edition of 50 from this negative (2F), only six prints were made, three of which are believed to have been destroyed.  At the time of this writing, no other prints of the photograph offered here have been located.