Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Sun, 31 Jan 1999 18:10:38 -0500 (EST)
On Sun, 31 Jan 1999, Steve Shapiro wrote:
>
> [Edward Weston's] photographs are wonderful to behold, and only in
comparison with what
> was out there then are truly unique. In comparison with what's done today,
> and mostly because of EW, with modern materials the work of today is far
> superior. If he is your benchmark photographer, do yourself a favor and
> don't seek out his original work.
Steve, we disagree here again, if by "original work" you mean Weston's
early soft-focus pictorialist portraits. I have seen very few of these
first-hand of course, but a magazine article of the 30s gave me a jolt
(hope I can find that one again, too, someday). It was written by Weston
in the first person, explaining how much BETTER his new sharp focus
portraits were and how much he hated doing the early soft focus, tho
customers demanded it. He also explained that the new sharp portraits
weren't posed, the customers just positioned themselves as they saw fit.
What struck me was how theatrical and .... awkward ... these "unposed"
portraits were, amateur versions of Hollywood publicity stills. The mode
had invaded the culture, apparently -- transparent at the time, blatant
today.
J.
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