Edward Weston

Strongly linked to the landscape and North American cultural history, Weston’s work, in its extreme simplicity and originality, allows us to discern a unique perspective in the process of consolidating photography as an artistic medium and its significant role within the context of modernity in the visual arts. The exhibition Edward Weston. The Matter of Shapes is conceived as a retrospective that traces the different phases of the artist’s photographic production, from his initial interest in Pictorialist approaches to his consolidation as one of the central figures affirming the poetic and speculative value of Straight Photography.

A pioneer in the use of a modern photographic style, his work is characterized by the use of large-format cameras, producing richly detailed black-and-white images of extraordinary sharpness. His mastery of technique, combined with his love for nature and form, resulted in a body of work highlighting iconic images of still lifes, nudes, landscapes, and portraits. Co-founder of Group f/64, his images are key to understanding the new aesthetics and new American lifestyle that emerged in interwar United States.

The exhibition consists of around two hundred photographs, grouped together with other documentary materials into seven sections. The display is conceived as a European perspective on the legacy of modern North American photography, offering an aesthetic and conceptual counterpoint to the modern photography that emerged in Europe with the early avant-garde movements.

Exhibition organized with the support of the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Curator: Sergio Mah