Paul Strand 1890-1976

The Paul Strand Archive

Acquired by Margaret W. Weston from the above, 1984

Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, Paul Strand: An American Vision, December 1990 - February 1991; and traveling to:

The Art Institute of Chicago, May - July 1991

The Saint Louis Art Museum, August - October 1991

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 1991 - January 1992

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, March - May 1992

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, June - August 1992

London, Victoria and Albert Museum, September - November 1992

Monterey Museum of Art, Passion and Precision: Photographs from the Collection of Margaret W. Weston, January - April 2003

This print:

Sarah Greenough, Paul Strand, An American Vision (Aperture, 1990, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 74

Passion and Precision: Photographs from the Collection of Margaret W. Weston (Monterey Museum of Art, 2003, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 53

Strand made two photographic trips to the Gaspé Peninsula in the Canadian province of Quebec.  The first trip was in 1929, when he spent a month there photographing with his 4-by-5-inch format Graflex camera.  Nancy Newhall wrote that 'the sense of the spirit of place' present in these photographs emerged 'as the dominant theme of Strand's work' (From Adams to Stieglitz: Pioneers of Modern Photography, Aperture, 1999, pp. 75-76).  Boat Houses, Wolf River, Gaspé, Quebec, was made on Strand's second visit to the peninsula in 1936, when he photographed with his larger 8-by-10 camera.  With its startlingly rich tones and its crystal-clear account of minute detail, the print of Boat Houses offered here is an archetypal Paul Strand photograph, combining the photographer's objective and unromantic assessment of his subject matter with his unmatched ability to render his image in a masterfully-made print. 

This print was originally in the collection of the photographer, and was in his estate at the time of his death.  Shortly after Strand's death in 1976, his widow, Hazel Kingsbury Strand, and her associates formed the Paul Strand Foundation for the purpose of preserving and promoting her late husband's work.  In 1983, the Strand Foundation became part of the Aperture Foundation, and was thereafter known as the Paul Strand Archive of the Aperture Foundation, Inc. 

Margaret W. Weston was one of the first dealers to sell masterworks from the Paul Strand Archive.  As one of the early representatives of the estate, she was able to offer her clients a wide range of Strand's best work, including unique examples of many important images.  The bravura platinum print of Boat Houses, Wolf River, Gaspé, Quebec, offered here was acquired by Ms. Weston during her early association with the Strand Archive, and she has kept it in her private collection since that time.