Edward Weston: A Photographer's Love of Life

EDWARD WESTON: A Photographer's Love of Life will provide visitors a better understanding and a greater appreciation for Weston the man and the photographer. "This exhibition looks more closely at Edward Weston as a robust lover of life," said Alex Nyerges, Director and CEO of The Dayton Art Institute and curator of the exhibition. " Visitors will see his classic and lesser known images while learning about what inspired Weston, primarily his family and friends."The exhibition includes 103 vintage gelatin silver prints, including suchiconic images as Shell (1929); Dunes, Oceano (1936); Pepper (1929); Diego Rivera (1924) and Pelican's Wing (1931), among others. Twelve vintage Kodachrome color transparencies will also be on display. "Weston placed these brilliant transparencies in a box in 1947, and they have never been seen since," commented Nyerges."This is the first time these colorful masterpieces can be viewed by the public."In addition, the exhibition will include 11 rarely seen snapshots of EdwardWeston and his family, dating from the first two decades of the 20thcentury. A display of Weston's personal correspondence offers insights into his family life. "The correspondence conveys the great warmth and love Weston had for his family and friends," explained Nyerges. "They dispel the notions of Weston as a loner and more accurately portray him as an energetic lover of life."A virtual survey of Weston's entire career from his teens to his years inMexico and Carmel to his Guggenheim fellowship in 1936 and to his final photographs from the late 1940s, this exhibition showcases the work that Weston considered his best. Weston's focus on the beauty in the world around him inspired future generations of photographers. His powerful work made people look at the world differently and helped them see the beauty in such simple things as a shell or a pepper.