Edward Weston: Nudes [Paperback]

Charis Wilson (Author), Edward Weston (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2005

"To Weston's eye...the landscape of the human body was an unending revelation of forms both voluptuous and abstract. His genius as an artist lay in his ability to respond to both with equal passion." --Hilton Kramer, The New York Times

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lee Friedlander's photographs of women in their birthday suits leave me cold, but they invite comparison with Edward Weston's classic black and white nudes. Bare breasts and buttocks took on another dimension when Weston was behind the camera; his headless torsos more closely resemble the work of painters and sculptors than the passionless images of ladies decapitated by Friedlander and other contemporary photographers. Charis Wilson's memoir of posing for (and living with) Weston--and her under-the-skin take on the thought process behind his nude studies--is fascinating.

Review

"To Weston's eye . . . the landscape of the human body was an unending revelation of forms both voluptuous and abstract. His genius as an artist lay in his ability to respond to both with equal passion."--Hilton Kramer, the New York Times

"It was as though the things of everyday experience had been transformed for Weston into organic sculptures, the forms of which were both the expression and the justification of the life within. The exhilarating visual purity of Weston's work is the product of a deeper achievement: He had freed his eyes of conventional expectation, and had taught them to see the statement of intent that resides in natural form."--John Szarkowski, Looking at Photographs

"Edward Weston 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 the forces beyond the apparent and 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. . . . And it was Weston who accomplished more than anyone, with the possible exception of Alfred Stieglitz, to elevate photography to the status of fine-art expression."--Ansel Adams

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Product Details

• Paperback: 118 pages
• Publisher: Aperture; 1St Edition edition (June 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0893815322
• ISBN-13: 978-0893815325
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,383,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, October 18, 2000

By 

Charles Tatum - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edward Weston: Nudes (Paperback)

This was the type of book I was looking for concerning Weston's nude photography. The background, written by his wife and model, was excellent, and the pictures were laid out perfectly. Highly recommended to any Weston fan.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, March 17, 2006

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Edward Weston: Nudes (Paperback)

Above all, this is a gorgeous collection of figure studies in black and white. Some photos, like the cover, celebrate the elegance of the human form. Others explore figure as a medium for abstraction - simple shape, almost detached from the person, quite unlike photo as portraiture.

In a secondary way, this is a record of the time in which the photos were taken, mostly the 1930s. Figure as abstraction was a relatively recent innovation, and Weston embraced it fully. He also seemed to combine abstraction with darkroom technique, sometimes bordering on solarization. This also captures the style of the times, when shaving wasn't necessarily part of a lady's grooming - surprising to a modern eye, but a happy reminder that womanly beauty comes from the woman herself, not from products and processes she subjects herself to.

The real surprise in this book, however, is the commentary by Charis Wilson. She was Weston's wife for many years, and model for a huge part of Weston's figure ouvre. She gives unique insight into Weston's working style, one that treated the models as collaborators rather than raw material.

It is interesting that Wilson discusses Weston's work with other models with the same enjoyment she shows in discussing his work with her. As she points out, the photo is truly about the photographer more than it's about the model. And, because of her long and close relationship with Weston, this is a very affectionate discussion of his work.

//wiredweird

4.0 out of 5 stars great photos from Weston, October 15, 2009

By 

Aleksander Dye "Aleksander" (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Edward Weston: Nudes (Paperback)

This book is great with several of his most famous photos. The print quality is good and the feel of the book as well. It has some texutal information which I found interesting as a bonus!