Brett Weston
Encyclopedia
Brett Weston was an American photographer and grew up in LA. He was the second son of photographer Edward Weston
. Van Deren Coke, former curator of the San Francisco Museum of Art referred to Brett Weston as the "child genius of American photography." Brett began taking photographs in 1925 and lived in Mexico with Tina Modotti and Edward Weston. He had his first international exhibition at Film und Foto in Germany at age 17 and his first one-man museum retrospective at age 21 at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.
Brett had an intuitive very sophisticated sense of abstraction, often flattening the plane and engaging in layered space, an artistic style more commonly seen among modern painters like David Hockney
than other photographers. He is best known for his work on the dunes around Oceano, California, a location that he later shared with his father Edward Weston, who never learned to drive. He preferred the high gloss papers and ensuing sharp clarity of the gelatin silver photographic materials of the f64 Group rather than the platinum matte photographic papers common in the 1920's and encouraged Edward Weston to explore the new silver papers in his own work. Brett Weston was credited by renowned photographic historian Beaumont Newhall as the first photographer to make negative space the subject of a photograph. Don Ross, a photographer close to both Brett and Edward, said that Brett never came after anyone. He was a true photographic equal and colleague to his father.
"Brett and I are always seeing the same kinds of things to do - we have the same kind of vision. Brett didn't like this; naturally enough, he felt that even when he had done the thing first, the public would not know and he would be blamed for imitating me." Edward Weston - Daybooks - May 24, 1930.
Brett used to refer to Edward Weston lovingly as "my biggest fan" and there was no rivalry between the two photographic giants. Brett loyally set aside his own photography to help Edward after he was unable to print his own images due to Parkinson's disease, which claimed Edward's life in 1958.
Brett Weston married and divorced four times. He had one daughter, Erica Weston.
Brett Weston lived part time on the Big Island of Hawaii the final 14 years of his life, as well as in Carmel, California. He maintained a home in Waikoloa that was built by his brother Neil Weston, and later moved to Hawaii Paradise Park. He died in Kona Hospital in January, 1993 after suffering a massive stroke.
In November of 1996, Oklahoma City collector Christian Keesee acquired from the Brett Weston Estate the most complete body of Weston’s work in existence. One of the primary goals of the Archive is to organize and catalog the collection in such a way as to offer immediate access to recognized as well as unknown and unpublished photographs by Brett Weston. A catalogue raisonne documenting each and every print in the collection with all attributable information on the photographs is currently underway, with a database available for research via the internet.
Works by Brett Weston are included in collections of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
, the Honolulu Academy of Arts
, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art
and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
.
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
. Van Deren Coke, former curator of the San Francisco Museum of Art referred to Brett Weston as the "child genius of American photography." Brett began taking photographs in 1925 and lived in Mexico with Tina Modotti and Edward Weston. He had his first international exhibition at Film und Foto in Germany at age 17 and his first one-man museum retrospective at age 21 at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.
Brett had an intuitive very sophisticated sense of abstraction, often flattening the plane and engaging in layered space, an artistic style more commonly seen among modern painters like David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
than other photographers. He is best known for his work on the dunes around Oceano, California, a location that he later shared with his father Edward Weston, who never learned to drive. He preferred the high gloss papers and ensuing sharp clarity of the gelatin silver photographic materials of the f64 Group rather than the platinum matte photographic papers common in the 1920's and encouraged Edward Weston to explore the new silver papers in his own work. Brett Weston was credited by renowned photographic historian Beaumont Newhall as the first photographer to make negative space the subject of a photograph. Don Ross, a photographer close to both Brett and Edward, said that Brett never came after anyone. He was a true photographic equal and colleague to his father.
"Brett and I are always seeing the same kinds of things to do - we have the same kind of vision. Brett didn't like this; naturally enough, he felt that even when he had done the thing first, the public would not know and he would be blamed for imitating me." Edward Weston - Daybooks - May 24, 1930.
Brett used to refer to Edward Weston lovingly as "my biggest fan" and there was no rivalry between the two photographic giants. Brett loyally set aside his own photography to help Edward after he was unable to print his own images due to Parkinson's disease, which claimed Edward's life in 1958.
Brett Weston married and divorced four times. He had one daughter, Erica Weston.
Brett Weston lived part time on the Big Island of Hawaii the final 14 years of his life, as well as in Carmel, California. He maintained a home in Waikoloa that was built by his brother Neil Weston, and later moved to Hawaii Paradise Park. He died in Kona Hospital in January, 1993 after suffering a massive stroke.
In November of 1996, Oklahoma City collector Christian Keesee acquired from the Brett Weston Estate the most complete body of Weston’s work in existence. One of the primary goals of the Archive is to organize and catalog the collection in such a way as to offer immediate access to recognized as well as unknown and unpublished photographs by Brett Weston. A catalogue raisonne documenting each and every print in the collection with all attributable information on the photographs is currently underway, with a database available for research via the internet.
Works by Brett Weston are included in collections of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is an arts center located just north of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. Located on the same city block are the American Numismatic Association and part of the campus of Colorado College....
, the Honolulu Academy of Arts
Honolulu Academy of Arts
The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...
, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall...
, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is a museum located in the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. The museum features visiting exhibits; original selections from its own collection; a theater showing a variety of foreign, independent, and classic films each week;...
and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
.
Publications
- “A Restless Eye: A Biography of Photographer Brett Weston” Erica Weston Editions, MO 2011, ISBN 978-0-615-41361-7
- "Brett Weston: Out of the Shadow", ed. Stephen Bennett Phillips, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, OK, 2008, ISBN 978-0911919097
- "Fifteen Photographs, Brett Weston" (Afterword by Roger Aikin), Lodima Press, PA 2007, ASIN: B0012FZNJA
- "New York, Brett Weston" (Introduction by Beaumont Newhall, Afterword by Roger Aikin), Lodima Press, PA 2006, ASIN: B000T4CSUM
- "White Sands, Brett Weston" (Introduction by Nancy Newhall, Afterword by Roger Aikin), Lodima Press, PA 2005, ISBN 188889931X
- "San Francisco, Brett Weston" (Afterword by Roger Aikin), Lodima Press, PA 2004, ISBN 978-1888899160
- "Dune: Edward and Brett Weston", ed. Kurt Markus, Wild Horse Island Press, MT, 2003, ISBN 0-9677321-2-3
- "Hawaii: Fifty Photographs, Brett Weston", Photography West Graphics, CA, 1992, ISBN 0-9616515-4-7
- "Brett Weston: Master Photographer, Brett Weston", Photography West Graphics, CA, 1989, ISBN 0-9616515-3-9
- "Brett Weston: A Personal Selection, Brett Weston", Photography West Graphics, CA, 1986 ISBN 0-9616515-0-4
- "Brett Weston: Photographs from Five Decades", ed. RH Cravens, Aperture, NY, 1980, ISBN 978-0893810658
- "Brett Weston: Voyage of the Eye, Brett Weston", Aperture, NY, 1975, ISBN 978-0912334844
- "Brett Weston: Photographs", Merle Armitage, E. Weyhe, NY, 1956, ASIN: B0007DEJP2