Edward Weston

mounted, signed, titled, dated, and annotated 'Mexico' by the photographer in pencil on the mount, matted, 1924

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. 13

Another print of this image:

Amy Conger, Edward Weston in Mexico, 1923-1926 (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1983, in conjunction with the exhibition), fig. 9

Variant croppings of this image:

Conger 151

Edward Weston: La Mirada de la Ruptura (Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1994, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 119

This early print, on matte-surface paper and mounted on large, thin, buff-colored card, is in generally good to very good condition. There is visible silvering in the dark areas, and heavy silvering on his hat. The edges are somewhat rubbed, with small chipping, mainly at the upper and left edges. The mount is appropriately age-darkened and lightly soiled. The corners are bumped, and the lower left and upper right corners are creased. At the lower edge, there is a very small tear and some small abrasions, as well as two small shiny tape remains. At the upper edge are six small remnants of cloth and cellulose tape. The reverse of the mount exhibits light soiling, and there is an abrasion at the lower left.
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Weston was first introduced to Diego Rivera in August of 1923 by Tina Modotti.  The two had gone to see Rivera's murals, which Weston spoke of in his daybooks:  'A few days ago, Tina took me to see the work of Diego Rivera, murals for a public building.  Later we met him. It was the work of a great artist which we viewed; and he was great in another way, tall and of generous girth—a striking figure!' (Daybooks, Mexico, 23 August 1923).

During his days in Mexico, Weston did portrait sittings as a means of financial support, often of his friends and fellow artists.  Although Weston and Rivera would see each other many times over the next year, it was not until November of 1924 that Weston photographed him, on the patio of the Secretaría.  An enthusiastic Weston hoped that one of the twelve negatives he produced with his Graflex would be worthy of Rivera, 'not just because Diego is a big artist, rather because he is especially interested in my work' (ibid., 29 November 1924).  Weston's closely-cropped portrait of Rivera shows the artist smiling, larger than life, his face and hat dominating the picture plane.  According to Weston scholar Amy Conger, this square-format photograph was likely intended for exhibition (cf. Conger 151, where the rectangular format of the same image is reproduced).

In addition to two prints in the Edward Weston Archive at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Conger locates prints of various croppings in the following institutions: the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; the Oakland Museum of Art; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.   At the time of this writing, one other platinum print has been located in a private collection.