Edward Weston

signed by the photographer in ink on the image, dated and annotated in unidentified hands on the reverse, matted, circa 1917

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

Other prints of this image:

Kathy Kelsey Foley, Edward Weston's Gifts to His Sister (The Dayton Art Institute, 1978, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 42

Alexander Lee Nyerges, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life (The Dayton Art Institute, 2004, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 7

This early print is on warm-toned, matte-surface paper and is in generally very good to excellent condition. There is age-appropriate silvering at the periphery, and an extremely faint white linear deposit of indeterminate nature, possibly pencil, to the left of the sitter. The edges are slightly rubbed, with a tiny nick at the upper edge, and the corners somewhat bumped, with tiny emulsion loss at the tips. The reverse of the print has a thin linear swath of adhesive and paper ply remains around the periphery near the edge, suggesting that the print was originally attached to a mount. The annotations on the reverse, in unidentified hands, read 'Circa 1917, Tropico - Calif., E. W. Studio,' 'signed - Weston - Jean,' and 'EW59.'
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.

Alice Jeannette Seaman, the woman who was so instrumental in saving the Edward and Brett Weston photographs offered in this catalogue, was the daughter of Edward Weston's sister, Mary, and her husband John Seaman. According to her nephew, John W. Longstreth, she was born in the first years of the twentieth century, probably in Chicago.  She and her sister Eloise were the only children of Mary Weston Seaman.  Jeannette, or Aunt Jean, as she was known to her nephew and his children, never married. In her mother Mary's last years in Glendale, California, she lived with her mother and took care of her. Her nephew remembers that Aunt Jean made and sold candy to supplement her small income, and was also a part-time caregiver to friends and acquaintances. Charis Wilson recalls that Jean tried her hand at homemade avocado products, concocting soaps, lotions, and ice cream in the tiny Glendale kitchen (Through Another Lens, p. 233).  Jean Seaman died around 1999, at a retirement home in Arizona.

The photograph offered here is a fine example of Edward Weston's early and inventive portrait style. Taken in Weston's Tropico studio, the composition is a study in horizontals, and owes something to the Japonisme so fashionable in artistic circles in the first years of the twentieth century.  The flowering branches on the table presage Weston's famous Epilogue, made in 1919.