Edwards Weston's art of seduction comes to Scotland

Published on Sunday 24 January 2010 22:23

MORE than 100 vintage prints by the legendary American photographer Edward Weston will go on show in Edinburgh this summer in a major coup for the Scottish capital.

Weston's landscapes of the western United States, his rich close-ups of natural forms and his sensuous nudes, made him one of the leading photographers of the 20th century.

British audiences have seldom had the chance to see his work first-hand.

But this summer Edinburgh's City Art Centre will stage the biggest exhibition of the photographer's work to be seen in Britain.

The touring exhibition covers five decades of work by Weston, who lived from 1886-1958.

It comes to Edinburgh direct from the US before it opens in New York.

David Patterson, fine art curator for the City of Edinburgh, contacted organisers to secure the exhibition after seeing the images online.

The City Art Centre has hosted major photographic exhibitions recently, including the work of another classic US photographer, Ansel Adams.

Weston collectors, including luminaries such as Lord Puttnam, have paid tens of thousands of pounds for his work. In 2008 one 1925 print sold for a record $1.6 million (1 million) at auction.

Weston made his name with striking landscape, still life, and nude photographs. Carefully composed, they glow with light and contrast cast on curving forms from desert plants to the human body.

Born in Chicago, Weston spent his professional life mostly in California, though he also lived in Mexico City with his then love, Tina Molotti. In the 1930s his wife Charis – nearly 30 years younger – famously became his travelling companion, muse, and model. She died in 2009.

The show is drawn from the collection of a New York couple, Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg.

Their collection runs from his first nude photo, of his first wife Flora in 1909, to his last image, of the grey stone rocks at Point Lobos in California.

Edward Weston: Life Work will run throughout Edinburgh's main summer festivals period, from late July until late October this year, at the Market Street gallery.

It is the first-ever showing of Weston's work in Scotland, and the first solo show in the UK since a Hayward Gallery exhibition a decade ago, of just 25 photographs.

Councillor Deidre Brock, the city's culture chief, said: "Edward Weston is recognised as being one of the greats of 20th century photography, so we are really delighted to be exhibiting his work." She predicted that the exhibition – presented in seven sections – would draw "impressive crowds".

The City Art Centre closed for a 700,000 refurbishment last year, including upgrades to air conditioning and lighting for the artworks. It reopens for the Edinburgh International Science Festival in April.

PROFILE

BORN in Chicago, Edward Weston was given his first camera by his father at the age of 16, in 1902. He started taking photographs while working as an errand boy and salesman.

In 1906, he went to work in California as a door-to-door portrait photographer. After studying photography, he opened his first studio there. He moved to Mexico City with his lover in the 1920s before returning to California.

Suffering from Parkinson's disease, he took his last photographs in 1948. For the next ten years Weston supervised his sons Brett and Cole printing his life's work.