Neil

Edward Weston

1923 · Palladium print · Photographs

A successful photographer in the Pictorialist vein in the 1910s, Weston went on to become a primary exponent of "straight" photography in the 1920s. This photograph sits at a transitional point in his career, created after his meeting with Alfred Stieglitz in New York, but before his extended stay in Mexico, a visit that would bring him into contact with a number of avant-garde artists. Here, Weston captures his young son Neil in a pose that conveys both youthful ease and sculptural equilibrium. If the painterly approach and poetic overtones evoke Weston’s earlier work, the simple but dramatic composition places it firmly within his later oeuvre.

Artist

Edward Weston

Date

1923

Medium

Palladium print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005