In his early attempts to merge the realism of photography with the expressive effect of abstract art, Weston honed in on close-up details of his subjects. That the faces of his models were often cropped or averted served practical as well as aesthetic purposes, enabling the photographs to be read as figure studies rather than as individual portraits while also protecting the privacy of the friends and lovers who served as models.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Inscription: Signed and inscribed in pencil, on mount, recto BR: "Edward Weston // 1925"; Inscribed in pencil, on mount, verso BR: "74.802"
Merle Armitage; Rockwell Kent; [Lacarda Gallery, New York]; private collection, New York; [Mark Kelman]; Gilman Paper Company Collection, New York, September 21, 1978
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Edward Weston," January 29, 1975–March 30, 1975.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Edward Weston," May 15, 1975–June 29, 1975.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Edward Weston," July 22, 1975–September 14, 1975.
Des Moines Art Center. "Edward Weston," November 22, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Edward Weston," January 26, 1976–March 14, 1976.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Edward Weston," April 13, 1976–June 13, 1976.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," May 25–July 4, 1993.
Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," August 7–October 2, 1993.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," June 19–September 11, 1994.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Naked before the Camera," March 27–September 9, 2012.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Modern and Contemporary Art. "Reimagining Modernism - Photographs Rotation 1," July 21–November 16, 2014.
London, Barbara, and Lee Witkin. The Photograph Collector's Guide. 1st ed. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1979.
Hambourg, Maria Morris, Pierre Apraxine, Malcolm Daniel, Virginia Heckert, and Jeff L. Rosenheim. The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 179.
Edward Weston (American, Highland Park, Illinois 1886–1958 Carmel, California)
1931
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's Department of Photographs houses a collection of more than 75,000 works spanning the history of photography from its invention in the 1830s to the present.
![[Nude], Edward Weston (American, Highland Park, Illinois 1886–1958 Carmel, California), Gelatin silver print](/Rodan/dist/svg/rolling-0.9s-30px.svg)
