Edward Weston

mounted, signed and dated by the photographer in pencil on the mount, numbered '68SO,' titled, and inscribed 'To my Sister—the funniest little sister I ever had—deep love, Brother, Christmas 1936' by the photographer in pencil on the reverse, matted, 1936

The photographer to his sister, Mary Weston Seaman, 1936

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. 47

Alexander Lee Nyerges, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life (The Dayton Art Institute, 2004, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 31

Another print of this image:

Conger 958

This early print, on paper with a faint sheen and slightly warm tonality, is mounted on a board that is slick and off-white on the front and the reverse. It is in generally excellent condition. When examined in raking light, a few tiny deposits of original retouching are visible. There is light soiling on the front of the mount. There are 7 thin, shiny tape remains on the edges of the front of the mount. On the reverse there are three small square areas where the top paper ply has been abraded. This does not affect the front of the mount.
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This unusual and evocative study of the dunes at Oceano is rare.  The locale is clearly identified by Weston's title on the reverse.  That he chose to inscribe and send this photograph to his sister gives the image special cachet. 

In her entry for this photograph, Weston authority Amy Conger locates only one print of the image in institutional collections, in the Edward Weston Archive at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson.  She notes that the horizon line is not a distant row of mountains, but a stand of bushes at the top of the dunes.  Unlike most other dune studies made at Oceano in 1936, this photograph incorporates more of the sky than the sand.  Its long focus anticipates the looser, more complex imagery of Weston's work in his later years.