EDWARD WESTON: THE REVOLUTIONARY PHOTOGRAPHER OF MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY
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Capturing the essence and beauty of everyday objects and seeking to make the commonplace unusual, the American photographer, Edward Weston is remembered for revolutionizing photography and bringing it into the modern age with his radical approach to composition, lighting, focus, and form.
Born Edward Henry Weston on March 24, 1886, in Highland Park, Illinois, the Photographer was best known for his seminal work of photography that elevate a humble vegetable to a high art. Weston's father gave him his camera at age 16. In 1906, the magazine ‘Camera and Darkroom' published his photograph ‘Spring, Chicago' in a full page spread. After then Weston moved to California to cultivate a career in photography.
Upon arriving California, Weston began working as a freelance photographer. However, more formal training was needed to become successful in the field, so he returned to Chicago in 1908 to study at the Illinois College of Photography.
Working as a darkroom assistant and eventually a photographer in the portrait studio of George Steckel and Louis Mojonier in Los Angles, Weston exhibited great skill in lighting and posing sitters. In 1909, he opened is own photographic studio in California. Besides his photography business, Weston began writing essays on his craft for publications such as American Photography and Photo-Miniature.
In 1915, Weston received a bronze medal for his ‘Child Study in Gray’ in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. In 1922, he took a trip to New York and visited famous photographer Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery. Following his travels in the late 1920s, Weston created a new body of work that would become some of his most recognizable and modern photographs.
In 1923, Weston traveled to Mexico, where he opened a photographic studio with his lover, Tina Modotti. During this time, Weston took a number of portraits and nudes for which he is known today. Several Mexican artists of the time including Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros and Jose Orozco, called Weston a pioneer of 20th century art.
In 1926, Weston returned to the United States, settling in California, where he continued to create- nudes, close-ups, natural forms and landscapes, among several other works. In the 1940s, Weston took several portraits of his family member that are now considered among his best work. In 1946, New York City's Museum of Modern Art featured a retrospective exhibit of Weston's work that included 300 prints.
Weston died in Carmel, California, on January 1, 1958.