Edward Weston

platinum or palladium print, signed, dated, and annotated 'Mexico' by the photographer in pencil on the reverse, mounted along the top edge only to a buff-colored mount, signed, dated, and numbered '3/50' by him in pencil on the mount, titled by the photographer in pencil on the reverse, matted, 1926, no. 3 in a projected edition of 50

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. 43

Alexander Lee Nyerges, Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life (The Dayton Art Institute, 2004, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 19

This early platinum print, on a large buff-colored card mount, is in generally excellent condition. The edges are very lightly rubbed. The mount is age-darkened at the periphery, and the corners are rounded from light wear. There is light soiling on the reverse.
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.

The little horse in the photograph offered here epitomizes the charm and playfulness Weston found in Mexican toys.   As he wrote in his journal, 'I never tire of the juguetes, they are invariably spontaneous and genuine, done without striving, fancied in fun. One imagines the Indians laughing and joking as they model and paint' (Daybooks, Mexico, 3 October 1925).   The horse in the present photograph is posed on what appears to be two lacquered boxes, examples of another genre of Mexican folk art.  One of these boxes may be the same one used in a photograph reproduced in Conger 192, with statuettes of a bride and groom posed on top; Conger refers to it as a lacquered box from Olinalá.

The photographs of Mexican toys and other folk art objects signal a turning point in Weston's work: a new interest in objects, and how to represent and animate them with his lens.  Weston wrote of his experience: 'I have made the juguetes, by well considered contiguity, come to life, or I have more clearly revealed their livingness.  I can now express either reality, or the abstract, with greater facility than heretofore' (Daybooks, Mexico, 20 February 1926). 

At the time of this writing, no other prints of this image have been located.  Conger does not list a print in the Edward Weston Archive at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson.