Edward Weston

mounted, signed, dated, and numbered '55 SO' by the photographer in pencil on reverse, matted, framed, 1936

The photographer to Frederick Sommer, 1938-1944

To Sommer's friend, the artist Stephen Aldrich

To Howard Greenberg Gallery, Craig Krull Gallery, as agent

Private Collection, acquired from the above

Gitterman Gallery, New York, as agent

Acquired by the present owners from the above

Other prints of this image:

Conger 950

Beaumont Newhall, Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston (Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, 1986, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 71

James Enyeart, Edward Weston's California Landscapes (Boston, 1984), pl. 13

This well-preserved print, with a wide range of delicately shifting grey tones and on a paper with a semi-glossy surface, is in generally excellent condition. The mount is thin board with a smooth, faintly glossy, finish on both sides. It is in excellent condition.
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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.

This photograph was originally given by Weston to his friend, the photographer and artist Frederick Sommer.  From the time of their first meeting, Weston and Sommer exchanged work.  In 1936, Sommer traded a number of his drawings for Weston's photographs.  Weston visited Sommer in Arizona several times between 1938 and 1944, and it is assumed that he gave this photograph to Sommer during that time.

In his own photographic work, Sommer preferred a very simple style of presentation in which a print was mounted to board and then signed on the reverse.  For prints from this period, Weston typically signed, dated, and sometimes initialed and numbered his prints on the front of the mount below the image.  For the photograph offered here, it is believed that Sommer requested that Weston adopt his (Sommer's) presentation style, leaving the front of the mount blank, so that there would be nothing to distract from the image.

Extant prints of the present dune study are scarce.  Conger accounts for only two early prints of this image in institutions: one in the collection of the Huntington Library, and one at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson.