Edward Weston

mounted, signed, titled, dated, and editioned '3/50' in pencil on the mount, 'Pfeffer' [pepper] in pencil and with '369' and other notations in red crayon on the reverse, 1929

Sotheby's London, Important Avant-Garde Photographs of the 1920s & 1930s, 2 May 1997, Sale LN7267, Lot 214

Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, 2003

San Francisco, Fraenkel Gallery, The Eye Club, September - November 2003

The Eye Club (San Francisco, 2003), pl. 56 (this print)

Galerie Zur Stockeregg: Thirty Years, 1979-2009 (Zurich, 2009), pl. 15 (this print)

Touring Topics, June 1930

This early print on velvety, matte-surface paper, is in generally excellent condition. The highlights are pleasing cream-white and the dark areas are a deep, rich black. The pepper’s textured skin is rendered by Weston with exceptional skill. In high raking light, a faint, long diagonal scuff is visible upon very close examination in the central portion of the image. Faint age-appropriate silvering is also visible in raking light at the print’s periphery. There is minimal edge wear, with occasional minute chipping. The retouching that is faintly visible in the lower portion of the image appears to be in the negative and is not a feature of the print. The photograph is mounted to card that has been boldly signed, titled, dated, and editioned by Weston in pencil. The mount has been trimmed to approximately 8 ¼ by 9 ¼ inches. There are a few stray graphite marks on the front of the mount, and the reverse is numbered ‘369’ and annotated in German in an unidentified hand in red crayon.
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 the first year of a concentrated series of pepper studies Edward Weston made in 1929 and 1930.   The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson confirms that the negative number for this image is '6P' in a series of at least 40 pepper studies. 

Weston first experimented with photographing a pepper in 1927, but it was not until the summer of 1929 that his fascination with the vegetable took hold.  Unlike the later pepper studies of 1930, in which the abstracted vegetable consumes nearly the entire 8x10-inch negative, the early pepper studies have a low, defined horizon line and are almost sculptural in their presentation.  Amy Conger notes that these early pepper studies focus on the interweaving muscular shapes and folds of the vegetable and observes that they are 'occasionally reminiscent of Goya's giant seated on the edge of the world' (Conger 562). 

Prints of this image are scarce.  Weston recorded only three prints of this image in his negative log at The Center for Creative Photography, Tucson – numbered 3, 4, and 5 from an unrealized edition of 50.  There is no print in the nearly definitive Edward Weston collection of the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson.  It is believed that the only other print of this image to have appeared at auction in recent memory was the unmounted, unsigned print Weston made for reproduction in Touring Topics (June 1930), offered in these rooms on 11 October 2005 (Sale 8115, Lot 53).