Edward Weston

signed by the photographer in ink on the image, titled, dated 'April 1918,' and annotated 'Six years - four months' and 'Five years' (crossed out) in an unidentified hand in ink on the reverse, matted, 1918

The photographer to his sister, Mary Weston Seaman

By descent to her daughter, Jeannette Seaman

By descent to her nephew, John W. Longstreth

The Dayton Art Institute, Edward Weston's Gifts to His Sister, January - March 1978, and traveling to:

New York, International Center of Photography, July - September 1978; and

The Oakland Museum, February - March 1979

The Dayton Art Institute, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life, February - July 2004, and traveling to:

Oregon, Portland Art Museum, September - November 2004

Omaha, Joslyn Art Museum, January - April 2005; and

Rochester, George Eastman House, April - September 2005

This print:

Kathy Kelsey Foley, Edward Weston's Gifts to His Sister (The Dayton Art Institute, 1978, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 41

Alexander Lee Nyerges, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life (The Dayton Art Institute, 2004, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 8

This very early, warm-toned photograph, on double-weight, matte-surface paper, resembles a platinum print, but very faint silvering is visible. The edges and corners are rubbed, with some small resulting emulsion loss. The upper corners are missing, and there is a small tear in the upper right area near the remainder of the corner. The lower left corner is creased. In the upper portion of the print, there are four small creases that break the emulsion. There are several small deposits of indeterminate nature at the upper corner (possibly ink droplets); at the lower left edge (possibly in-painting); and there are tiny white spots in the shirt area. On the reverse of the print, some soiling is visible, as well as black paper remains at the periphery and in the upper portion, as if the photograph was once affixed to a mount or album leaf. The notation, 'EWS23' and dimensions (marked out) have been written in unidentified hands in pencil. None of these affects the image.
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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.

The present print, a photograph of a young, brooding Brett Weston, was taken, as the inscription on the reverse tells us, in April 1918, when he was six years and four months old.  The photographer's family was living at the time in the suburbs of Los Angeles, where Weston had opened his first portrait studio in 1911.  This photograph of Weston's second son is an especially perceptive character study of the boy, who would go on to become a talented photographer in his own right (see Lots 110 through 118).  In this portrait, Brett seems to draw himself up to full height as he regards his father's camera with precocious self-confidence and not a bit of apprehension. 

Weston's portraits of his own children were among his earliest gifts to his sister May.