We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,751,485.57 | Books Available: 730,465 | Members Online: 205

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - Edward Weston: The Flame of Recognition

Edward Weston The Flame of Recognition

In the years since Edward Weston passed away in Carmel, California, he remains in memory as a man of great spirit, integrity, and power. To me he was a profound artist and friend in the deepest sense of the word. Living, as I do now, within a mile of his last home, sensing the same scents of the sea and the pine forests, the grayness of the same... more » fogs, the glory of the same triumphal storms, and the ageless presence of the Point Lobos stone, I find it very difficult to realize he is no longer with us in actuality.

Edward understood thoughts and concepts which dwell on simple mystical levels. His work--direct and honest as it is--leaped from a deep intuition and belief in forces beyond the apparent and the factual. He accepted these forces as completely real and part of the total world of man and nature, only a small portion of which most of us experience directly. As with any great artist or imaginative scientist, the concept is immediate and clear, but the "working out" takes time, effort, and conscious evaluations.

Edward Weston's work stood for him as a complete statement of the man and his art. He favored the grand sweep of creative projects. He was aware of the loneliness of the artist, especially the artist in photography, photography where out of the uncounted thousands of photographers only a handful of workers support the best photojournalism, illustration, documentation, and poetic expression. And it was Weston who accomplished more than anyone, with the possible exception of Alfred Stieglit, to elevate photography to the status of fine-art expression.

His approach bypassed the vast currents of pictorial photography, photojournalism, scientific-technical photography, and what is generally lumped together as "professional photography" (portraits of the usual "studio" kind, illustrations, and advertising). Through his kind of photography he opened up wonderful world of seeing an doing.

Many were the students and experts whose lives and concepts were profoundly modified by Edward's non-aggressive, non-preaching, but ever-comprehending approach. "Seeing" the Point Lobos Rocks was one thing, making wondrous pictures of them another thing, but encouraging another person to "see" something in his own way was the most important thing of all.

Edward's works need no evaluation here. I would prefer to join Edward in avoiding verbal or written explanations and definitions of creative work. Who can talk or write about the Bach Partitas? You just play them or listen to them. They exist only in the world of music. Likewise, Edward's photographs exist only as original prints, or, as in this Aperture monograph, in superb reproductions. Look at his photographs, look at them carefully, then look at yourselves--not critically, or with self-deprecation, or any sense of inferiority. Read the material from his Daybook and letters so carefully compiled, edited, and associated with the photographs by Nancy Newhall. You might discover through Edward Weston's work how basically good you are, or might become. This is the way Edward would want it to be.

--Ansel Adams, 1965

ISBN-13: 9780893815332
ISBN-10: 0893815330
Publication Date: 6/15/2005
Pages: 104
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Aperture
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Arts & Photography >> Individual Artists >> ( V-Z ) >> Weston, Edward
Arts & Photography >> Photography & Video >> Photographers, A-Z >> General
Arts & Photography >> Photography & Video >> Photo Essays

Back to the Top ↑

Search - Edward Weston: The Flame of Recognition

Loading...