Description
Edward Weston Platinum-palladium print. 1921. Signed and dated 1922 in pencil on the mount. 9 5/8 x 71/2in. (24.5 x 19cm.) PROVENANCE Edward Weston; to his sister, Florence Seaman; with Daniel Wolf, New York; to the present owner, late 1970s. LITERATURE Warren, Margrethe Mather & Edward Weston, A Passionate Collaboration, p. 90, pl. 51. NOTES The work of Margrethe Mather has often been overshadowed by her contemporary, Edward Weston, with whom she shared a professional and personal relationship. The two met in 1913 and with a group of local photographers formed the Camera Pictorialists of Los Angeles in 1914, one of the most influential camera clubs of the period. By the early 1920s they became partners in a Glendale, California studio. Mather and Weston collaborated on many works during this period, and today Mather is regarded as one of the most significant influences on Weston's development, both through her own photography and her sittings as his model. It was not until the recent publication of Beth Gates Warren's book, Margrethe Mather & Edward Weston, A Passionate Collaboration that Mather's own history as a photographer and her relationship with Weston were fully investigated and understood. Warren observes the significant role played by Mather in Weston's emergence as a photographer as well as the considerable work done by Mather which for so long has been lost or overlooked. She writes, "Throughout this period, however, Mather was not simply Weston's lover and muse. She was also his teacher. She influenced his vision and broadened his outlook, artistically and socially. She provided for him a context in which he was exposed to radical new ideas about politics, aesthetics, sexual mores, and life in general. And not only did she parry his every idea with one of her own, she frequently initiated the match. To be sure, she was a consummate foil for Weston's creativity, but, more important, she was a wellspring of inventiveness herself. A meticulous and exacting artist, with an instinctively rigorous sense of proportion and design, she was well known among her artist friends for invoking the axiom, 'If it doesn't look right, it isn't right.'" (Warren, p. 12.) By 1920 Mather was enjoying great personal success as a photographer, measured not only by her commercial successes, but also by the accolades of her colleagues through her inclusion in the salons and journals of the period. Close to the time this portrait was made Weston began a relationship with Tina Modotti, with whom he would travel to Mexico in 1923. His relationship with Modotti would prove to be a similarly tumultuous partnership, both romantically and artistically, as the one he shared with Mather. But while this bond with Modotti has been well documented we are only beginning to grasp the significance of his early relationship with Mather. While Weston and Mather grew apart personally, their professional partnership strengthened. In 1921 they produced nearly a dozen works which they jointly signed - the only time in his career that Weston would concede joint authorship - a tribute to Mather's position as his artistic co-equal. Ultimately Weston's departure for Mexico saw the demise of their Glendale studio in 1925 and the end of their personal and professional partnership. This remarkable example of Mather's mastery of portrait making is believed to be unique. One reason for the belated rediscovery of Mather's importance has been the scarcity of her work in major collections and in the photography market, particularly her early work in platinum. According to Warren's research early platinum prints are considered rare and duplicate prints of any one image are very rare. It is ironic that Edward Weston, a revolutionary portraitist, suffers from an absence of worthy likenesses of himself. With the exception of this example, portraits of Weston by his colleagues, sons or his lovers do not capture the powerful personality sketched out in his Daybooks or biographies. It is suggested that this image was the final work in a 1921 sitting. In Warren's book she reproduces those in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, J. Paul Getty Museum and George Eastman House, in which Mather presents Weston in strong yet conventional renderings. (pl. 48-50) This portrait is completely reductive compared to those made possibly minutes before. Here, Mather pushes the subject to the forefront of picture plane arresting the viewer with Weston's intense gaze. Warren observes, "That approach would be one she would use several times during the early twenties, portraying the human face as a psychological map, with its swells and shallows and curves, emphasized by somber shadows, broad washes of light, and unconventional cropping, to reveal the topography of the individual's personality." (Warren, p. 29.) Unlike portraits of the time - including her own and Weston's - there are none of the clich‚d props, no fans or vases, no romantic shadows so often used as a visual element. Here there are no distractions from the immediacy of the subject. The only artifact allowed in the frame is his pince-nez pressed against his lips, in a reflective gesture that must have been habitual. The intimacy of the sitting is reflected in the total unguardedness and unposed appearance of Weston. This image should be seen in the context of the canons of photographic portraiture in the early 20th century. Even the rich portraiture of the Photo Secessionists, such as Edward Steichen and Clarence White, while experimental, rarely reached the psychological insight and modernity seen here. Even Weston would not show this kind of command of the genre until later, such as in his portraits of Modotti, an equally intimate subject. Only Alfred Stieglitz's celebrated close-up portraits of Georgia O'Keeffe and Paul Strand's of his wife Rebecca rival this work in intensity and modernity, and it is virtually certain that Mather was not aware of these highly personal series. This print originates from the collection of Weston's sister, Florence Seaman. Seaman's collection was celebrated in a 1978 exhibition organized by the Dayton Art Institute, "Edward Weston's Gifts to His Sister". "This collection is indeed a very special one: unique because Edward personally selected photographs sent as a continual renewal of the closeness that he and his sister shared. It is important...because of the many rare photographs it contained..." (Kelsey, "Edward Weston's Gifts to His Sister".) The collection included many iconic images by Weston such as an "attic" picture, portraits and a pepper. Florence Seaman was nine years older than Weston and virtually raised him. He often looked to her for guidance and support. For example, he moved in with Seaman and her husband when he first arrived in California and her husband found him his first job as a surveyor.
